


Running Wild

by AcidGreenFlames



Series: Run Seiries [1]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Alternet Universe, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Implied dub con, M/M, Original Characters - Freeform, Xeno Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-13
Updated: 2012-12-02
Packaged: 2017-11-07 15:16:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 209,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/432565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AcidGreenFlames/pseuds/AcidGreenFlames
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After being shot down by Autobots, Thundercracker's trine is forced to leave him behind. With no way home, he seeks shelter in an empty horse trailer, and its owner is less than thrilled. </p><p>Rating will change for later chapters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Falling From the Sky

**Author's Note:**

> First and for most I would like to thank my two fabulous betas, Maverick1997 and Brighter Than the Sun (aka Sunny). You guys rock my socks! 
> 
> Ok so this is a HUGE AU. A cross over from Transformers G1 and the Bay verse. The human characters are much more entertaining to write with in Bay verse, but I love the story and characters frames from G1. So with very few exceptions (coughcough-Roadbuster and his awesome accent-coughcough) the Cybertronion characters will be from G1.
> 
> Also, this story was first posted on FanFiction and I am slowly moving it over.

**Important information:**

 

“...” Speaking

:...: comm. link

**_‘....’_** bonded speech

‘...’ thinking

 

**Astrosecond** \- 2.5 earth Seconds

**Klik** \- 150 earth seconds/ 2.5 earth Minutes

**Orn** \- 150 earth minutes/ 2.5 earth Hours

**Joor** \- 60 earth hours/2.5 earth Days

**Metacycle** \- 17.5 earth days/2.5 earth Weeks

**Vorn** \- 10 earth weeks/2.5 earth months

**Stellercycle** -30 earth months/2.5 years

**Breem** -slang for a moment/minute.

**Night Cycle** : star down to star up

**Day Cycle** : Star up to star down

  **Disclaimer** : I own nothing!! Nothing I say!

 ()()()

The sky was still and quiet over the plains of Nebraska. The sun was just beginning to set in the summer sky, painting the once blue horizon with pinks and reds. Below the setting sun, corn stalks swayed gently in the breeze, looking like soft waves that drifted over the earth. It was a serene, gentle scene, where crickets were just beginning to chirp and birds were settling in for the night…

 

Three F-15 fighter jets screamed across the darkening skies, effectively destroying the peace. Their roaring engines sent flocks of birds soaring with fright and silenced the crickets instantly.

 

The jet engines were pushed harder and faster , riding the air currents as they rose into the sky.  One of the jets, which oddly appeared to have been painted blue and black, suddenly pulled away from the other two. It shot away from the others with a _car-aack_ of a sonic boom that shook the ground far below.

 

A red, blue and white blur shot forward, racing towards the blue F-15 and quickly caught up to take the lead once again. Not to be out done, the tri colored jet suddenly dipped its nose to the ground, putting itself into a flat spin. It became a blur of red, white and blue as it picked up momentum, spinning dangerously towards the ground. When it looked as though the F-15 would crash into the earth and cause its own destruction, it pulled out of the spin. The jet did so with seemingly no effort and grace as it shot skyward again to rejoin the formation. The jet’s afterburners working hard and engines screaming with the effort.

The tri colored jet evened out once it reached its blue companion. If jets could look smug the tri colored jet certainly would have. You could tell by the way it flew, suddenly dipping its nose up and evening out again, repeating the manoeuvre with ease multiple times while keeping its place among the two other fast paced jets.

 

Far behind the two faster jets, the purple one struggled to catch up. No matter how hard the purple and black jet pushed its engines, it could never quite keep up.  Technically it should have kept paced easily, its design and engines exactly the same as its companions’. Its engine sputtered, as if irritated, before the jet disappeared in a flash of purple light.  It suddenly reappeared directly in front of the other two jets, causing them to veer in different directions to avoid certain collision. 

 

As Skywarp transformed to his bipedal form and stretched out to allow him to fly with his back to the ground, arms bent so that his servos were placed beneath his helm. The seeker’s long legs stretched out in front of him, crossed at the ankles. The flight seemed graceful despite the effort his engines were using to keep him sky bound. 

 

The teleporter shot his trine mates a cocky grin. :Teleporting abilities, I have, speed matters not!:                    




 

Realigning themselves, so that they flew just behind the purple jet, Starscream and Thundercracker sighed. Over their private comm. lines Starscream sneered :No more Star Wars Skywarp. I’m _sick_ of you speaking like Yoda.:

 

Skywarp’s grin grew tenfold. :Aggravates Megatron, but it does! Speak like this, continue, I shall!:  

 

Starscream growled through the comm. link, a task in itself as sending just noise was very difficult and often didn’t work. Luckily for Starscream though, he had lots of reasons to practice making wordless noises through the comm. :But it is aggravating me. That is rather counterproductive to your endeavors.:

 

Skywarp just laughed at his trine leader, sending waves of joy to Thundercracker through their spark bond. The blue seeker sighed inwardly, a habit he had picked up since coming to Earth. **_‘Come on ‘Warp. This is supposed to be a peaceful flight. You can harass ‘Screamer when we make it back to base.’_**

 

Skywarp pouted, unhappy that his bonded had insisted that he leave Starscream alone. **_‘No fun.’_**  The purple jet stuck his tongue out at his mate as he dropped below the other fliers, transforming back to his alt form.  Evening out, Skywarp rose to fly on Starscream’s other side at the same time Thundercracker dropped back so that the three formed a triangle, the symbol of the trine. 

 

Calmness filled the three seekers then, at least for a little while. There was no war, no death, no Decepticons, no Autobots; Nothing but three frames flying in perfect unison and the wind beneath their wings.

 

Thundercracker mildly noted that they were flying over a large horse farm. In his peripheral vision he had spotted two riders following a gentle trail back to the barns. The height and speed at which they flew meant that the blue seeker couldn’t make out any physical traits of the flesh bags. The proud seeker brushed it off, they were in too good of a mood to bother with the dominate species of this dirt ball.

 

‘They’re lucky.’ Thundercracker mused to himself as they flew by. Any other day, the three seekers would have attacked the farm, for no other reason but their own entertainment and to destroy the peace that had filled the land. However today, even the seekers were enjoying the peace.

 




If anyone found out they were more than just, as the humans crudely called it, fuck buddies their lives would be ended. No ifs, ands or buts. Megatron would deactivate one and watch the other wither away with guilt and loss. A weakness like love was not tolerated within the Decepticon army, and a spark bond was met with the death of both parties. It was safer for everyone in the army to destroy a mated pair within the safety of the base, where their deaths would not cause problems in the heat of battle. 

 

Thundercracker had always hoped that if they were ever discovered, Megatron would destroy Skywarp first and do it quick. The blue seeker would willingly take the place of the one to wither away, becoming a former shell of himself before joining his mate in the well of sparks…or maybe the pit. Either way, Thundercracker did not want his mate to suffer, and had already come to terms with the actions he would have to take to ensure Skywarp would not suffer.

 

Another volley of love brought Thundercracker out of such morbid thoughts. They were careful, so very careful. Starscream, the only other Decepticon that knew of their bonding, had outlined rules that they were to follow to make sure that no one else would find out. As leader of their trine the tri colored seeker had instinctively known what they had done.

 

Not overly impressed with their actions, Starscream had shaken his head in irritation then set about ‘cleaning up their mess.’ Since then, the three of them had taken precautions to protect the secret; as long as they were outside of their quarters there was to be no physical affection, no gentle touching, and _no touching outside of training ever!_ Of course there were to be no soft, gentle or comforting words either. Even in the safety of their quarters they had to be careful; if Soundwave caught the wrong thought and found out that their relationship was deeper then purely physical, he would surely tattle to Megatron. That was, of course, even before you considered Soundwave’s little pack of spies. In the end their safety had become Starscream’s top priority, even placed before Megatron’s orders.   Although, if Thundercracker was placing bets, he was sure that Starscream was only doing it to spitefully get back at their leader.  Either way, Thundercracker didn’t care.

 

Sighing again, Thundercracker sent out a message along the comm. lines. :We should be getting back soon. No need to for Megatron to catch on to our little outings.:

 

Skywarp, who had become bored with flying in a straight line and had begun doing tight cork  screw spirals, made a noise of displeasure. :Aw, come one TC. We haven’t been out here for long. I’m sure Magster hasn’t noticed us gone yet.:

 

:You don’t know that Skywarp. We can’t take chances.:

 

Skywarp whined, and straightened out again. :Staaaaaarscream! I don’t wanna go back yet.: 

 

Starscream sighed, and mentally shook his head. :Again, why did you bond with him Thundercracker?: 

 

If he could have, Thundercracker would have shrugged. :Was a good idea at the time.: The blue jet replied in a playful tone.

 

Starscream snorted, while Skywarp made a noise of indignation deep in his engine. :Either way, Thundercracker is right. We should go back before our absence is noticed.: Starscream said firmly, not wanting Skywarp to argue.

 

As the trine began to fly through an incoming storm, pushing their engines to rise above the low cloud cover and associated lightning, their comm. crackled to life.

 

:Starscream, where are you and your idiotic trine?: Megatron’s cold voice rang through their processors, freezing their sparks in fear.

 

But Starscream kept his cool, use to dealing with their irate leader. :Patrolling, my liege.:  The aerial commander lied smoothly, keeping his tone respectful.

 

:Patrolling?: Megatron asked, his icy voice churning the three fliers tanks. 

 

:Of course. What else would we be doing?:  Starscream asked, his usual sarcasm sounding too forced to be natural. 

 

:Do you take me for a fool, Starscream?: There was something their leaders voice that made Thundercracker nervous. 

 

The blue jet pinged his trine leader. :Something’s not right.:

 

:I know.:

 

:I think we’ve been lead into a trap.:

 

Starscream paused before answering. :I believe you’re correct Thundercracker.: His pitch was higher than before as realization set in. 

 

Continuing as though no communication between Thundercracker and himself had occurred, Starscream commed his leader. :Of course not Megatron, you are our magnificent leader. Our merciful leader.: 

 

From the dark clouds a massive grey form emerged and Megatron dropped down beside Starscream, forcing the two seekers behind them to drop back even farther. Megatron was in his bipedal form with the turbine engines that Starscream had been forced to place within Megatron’s pedes keeping him air born.  Their leader shot Starscream a dark look and snarled, but the noise was lost to the rushing wind of their flight. :Pray tell Starscream, why are you patrolling so far out from base?:

 

The tri colored seeker recovered from his shock quickly, and tossed out another lie that would save the trine from punishment. :We were along the fourth quadrant patrols when we picked up an Autobot spark signature. We came to investigate.:

 

The lie was smooth and delivered in Starscream’s normally nonchalant manner. But Thundercracker could feel Skywarp’s fear leak through their bond as Megatron’s silence seemed to stretch into human minutes.

 

**_‘He’s not buying it TC! He’s not buying it! We’re dead! We’re all so dead.’_** Skywarp’s frantic feelings nearly caused Thundercracker to fall from the sky. But the blue jet managed to stay calm enough as not to alert their leader.

 

**_‘Hush Sky. Let Starscream do his work. If anyone can convince Megatron of our innocence’s, it’ll be ‘Screamer.’_ **

****

**_‘But…but Megatron never believes Starscream! He’s going to find out, and we’re going to get punished for it!’_ **

****

Thundercracker sent a feeling of calm to his mate in a desperate attempt to reassure him, worried that Skywarp’s fear would cause him to do something stupid. But deep in his spark, Thundercracker worried about the harsh beating that they would no doubt receive when they arrived back at base.

 

:Odd, don’t you think.: Megatron said far too calmly through the comm. lines. :that the only spark signatures that I have been able to detect, has been only you foolish lot. Why do you think that is?:

 

:They are able to move quickly through the terrain here. It’s far too easy to lose them.: Starscream said quickly, hoping that the lie didn’t sound as lame to his master as it did to him.

 

Megatron’s grey fist shot up and smashed into the underside of Starscream’s wing, cracking the sensitive appendage. The tri seeker gasped and quickly transformed back into this bipedal form to remain airborne. The opposite arm shot up to the damaged wing as energon began to leak down the length of the appendage. “Please, master! It’s not what you think! They were right he-“ Starscream’s begging was caught off when Megatron’s heavy fist wrapped around his delicate throat plates, cutting off his words.

 

Thundercracker and Skywarp transformed and froze behind their leader. Skywarp whimpered and quietly floated behind Thundercracker, seeing his older mate as safe in situations like these. But needing to keep up appearances, Thundercracker discreetly waved him away. **_‘Not now Skywarp, we’ll deal with this once we’re back in our quarters.’_**

 

From behind him, Skywarp nodded and gently floated away from his mate. But Thundercracker noted it was only just enough to not raise suspicion.

 

“You are pathetic Starscream.” Megatron snarled, no longer bothering to use the comm. lines now that they were no longer flying. “A pathetic little worm. Now, get your useless trine back to base before I dismantle you here and now.” 

 

The leader released his SIC and shoved him hard away from his heavy built frame. Coughing hard and doubling over with the effort, Starscream managed to speak. “O..of course Megatron, our great, merciful leader.” 

 

The tri colored leader turned and motioned with his helm for the other two to go. As Starscream turned to follow, Megatron’s foot shot up and kicked the F-15 hard in the aft. This sent him shooting forward, crashing hard into Thundercracker.

 

The blue seeker managed to regain his balance quickly and keep his commander air borne. Once the pair where stable again, Starscream turned to shoot Megatron a dirty look. Looking as though he were about to start an argument, Thundercracker placed a servo onto a grey shoulder plate and squeezed hard. :Don’t ‘Screamer, he’s baiting you. Don’t give in to him.: 

 

Starscream snarled, but didn’t respond to either his leader’s actions or his trine mates words. Instead he jerked his shoulder out of Thundercracker’s grasp and flew past him. Megatron chuckled darkly and floated up beside the blue seeker.

 

“Get going Thundercracker, wouldn’t want to fall behind.” Megatron said cruelly, with a sick sense of joy in his tone.

 

Keeping his faceplates lax and unemotional, despite his rolling tanks, Thundercracker nodded and turned to follow Starscream. Then, a blimp on his sensors had the blue seeker tensing and ready for attack.

 

With the sun now completely down, the Nebraskan planes were inky black and impossible to see anything from the sky. But from that inky blackness, a rocket came screaming up at Starscream.

 

“STARSCREAM MOVE!” Thundercracker shouted, hoping that the tri colored seeker could get out of the way in time.

 

But with his wing damaged, Starscream’s maneuverability was hampered. The tri colored seeker froze, knowing that even if he did tried to move out of the way he wouldn’t make it. There was a flash of purple and a _ftzz_ as Skywarp teleported beside his trine leader. The teleporter rammed hard into his leaders side, throwing both of them out of the path of the rocket.

 

“Are you two alright?” Thundercracker asked, trying to keep his voice emotionless. But witnessing his bonded mate and trine mate nearly die had the blue jet shaking just a little.

               

“Yeah, we’re okay TC…can we go home now? I’m done flying.” Skywarp said quietly, his panicked red optics were shooting around the ground.

 

Megatron suddenly shot past the seekers, leaving them still shaky in his own haste to escape. Getting a grip of himself much faster than Skywarp, Starscream snarled “We need to go now! GO!”

 

Thundercracker nodded, grabbing hold of Starscream with both servos and dragged him along the sky, heading back towards the horse farm they had seen earlier.

 

Moving as fast as Starscream’s damaged wing would allow, the seekers followed their leader.

 

:Why are we retreating? Why not fight the Autobots?: Skywarp asked, getting his nerve back.

 

:Tell you what Skywarp, you go down and find them. Let us know how it goes for you.: Starscream snapped over the comm. as he began to fly on his own.

 

Skywarp made an irritated noise as another rocket came screaming up at the three seekers. Skywarp didn’t see the rocket coming up behind him and how the teleporter didn’t hear it coming, the blue jet never could have guessed.

 

**_‘Skywarp! Pay attention, I’m not always going to be here to protect you!’_** Thundercracker snarled across their bond as worry and fear bled across with his words.

 

The purple seeker rolled his optics at his mate and huffed with his ire. **_‘TC, I don’t need you to protect me all the time! I am more than capable to take care of myself.’_**

****

Feelings of anger and aggravation hit Thundercracker from Skywarp’s side of the bond. The blue seeker sighed and tried to keep his irritation from his mate. Thundercracker knew he had failed when Skywarp’s faceplates crunched up with his own irritation, glaring at his blue and black mate. **_‘Come on Skywarp, let’s get out of here.’_**

 




Coming to fly beside Skywarp, so that the purple flier flew between himself and Starscream, Thundercracker sent a wave of love to his irritated mate. Skywarp shot another dark look at the blue seeker, and clamped down on the bond, blocking anything from being transferred. Thundercracker frowned at his mate and used the comm. to speak with him. :Stop being so immature. We’ll deal with your insecurities when we get back to base. :

 

:I’m not insecure!: Skywarp snarled back, a burst of anger slipping through the bond.

 

:Skywarp, enough! Let’s just get back to base and argue there.:

 

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Skywarp couldn’t get over his irritation. :You suck Thundercracker, and sometimes I don’t know why I bonded with your cranky aft!:

 

Hurt flashed through Thundercracker spark, but managed to keep his side of the bond closed from his mate. He refused to allow the purple jet to know he was hurt by something as simple as words. Instead the blue jet shot the purple seeker a dark look, refusing to answer.

 

A head of them, Megatron kept shooting them confused glances, his calculating optics focused far too much on Thundercracker and Skywarp. :If he finds out we’re all good as deactivated.: Starscream said calmly, keeping his faceplates passive.

 

Thundercracker remained silent, but Skywarp’s irritation got the better of him. :It’s not _my_ fault Thundercracker’s a jerk.:

 

A scream of a third missile had Thundercracker diving out of the way. He barrel rolled hard to the left, away from his trine mates, and the missile rocketed past harmlessly. Smirking Thundercracker thought that the Autobots needed to practice their aim if they were ever going to take down a seeker. Then an astrosecond later a fourth rocket, the sound of the air slipping over its aerodynamic form hidden  by the third missile, slammed hard into Thundercracker’s side.

 

It exploded on contact, ripping a massive whole into the blue seeker’s side and destroying the lower half of his left wing. Liquid heat ripped through his sensors and a pain so great it blacked out his vision. Warning bells rang in his head and warnings flashed across his HUD. His black servos clamped down onto the damaged area as hot, pink energon leaked over them.

 

Thundercracker pushed all that aside as he began to fall, plummeting fast towards the ground. The blue seeker slammed his side of the bond shut so that Skywarp wouldn’t fall with him, and put all his concentration into righting himself. Rushing head first to the ground was not his idea of a good landing. 

 

The last thing Thundercracker saw before he hit the ground was the same stupid horse farm and a stupid fiberglass trailer that humans used to tote around horses. He wasn’t sure why that stuck out in his processor, but it had as Thundercracker smashed helm first into the earth. His vision went to static as his body rolled hard over the ground, his limbs twisting and pulling in awkward ways. He felt his already damaged wing snap completely off from his shoulder, sending a searing pain across his body. His processor blacked with the pain, his vision going blank.

 

Thundercracker fought against the blackout and onlined his red optics. One of his optics was cracked and sparked when power lit it up, so he allowed it to power off and the darkness consumed him.

()()()

 

Somewhere in the inky blackness of the night, Sideswipe stood up. He flattened his black servo and pressed it against his forehelm as though he were blocking the sun from his blue optics. The crimson mech let out a low whistle and grinned. “I told ‘ya that if I fired two rockets in quick succession that the second one would take out the seeker.”

 

Sunstreaker, who had been crouched behind a rock and moping about being stuck out in the middle of nowhere, stood to follow his brother’s line of vision.

 

“Whatever. Let’s just get the damned seeker and get back to base. The sooner we get back, the sooner I can get this grime out from under my armor.”

 

Shouldering the massive rocket launcher, Sideswipe shook his black helm. “Come on Sunny, that was a great shot!”

 

“Don’t call me Sunny,” The gold mech snarled, quickly rising to anger.

 

Moving towards where the blue seeker went down, the crimson mech smirked at his twin. “Don’t worry _Sunshine_ , we’ll be back home before you know it! Hey, who knows, maybe Epps will give you a good cleaning and a polish too!”

 

Sunstreaker snarled at his twin, his golden servo’s tightening into fists. “I swear Sideswipe, if you keep it up…”

 

The gold twin left the threat unsaid, sending his anger through the twin bond. The crimson twin just laughed, and gently punched his brother in the shoulder. “Come on Sunny, let’s go get our seeker.” With that, the crimson twin merrily walked in the direction that Thundercracker had crashed.

 

Sunstreaker snarled at his twin. “Watch the paint glitch! I just had it waxed.” The golden twin followed his brother, not happy at having to find a dumb seeker.

()()()  

Skywarp watched in a mixture of horror and panic as Thundercracker spiraled out of control towards the ground.  The purple jet tried to feel something, _anything,_ across the bond to let him know that his mate was going to be ok.

 

But Thundercracker had clamped down tight on the bond and nothing was getting through. :TC! TC PULL UP!: the purple jet screamed across the comm. 

 

The teleporter watched in shock as his mate smashed into the ground at impossible speeds. His large blue frame rolling, churning up dirt as Thundercracker’s body rolled across the earth, his left wing coming off with a brutal _SNAP_.

 

“THUNDERCRACKER!” Skywarp howled and moved to dive after his fallen mate. But a pair of strong, blue and grey arms wrapped around a purple, black and grey chest plates and arms.  “NO! NO! LET ME GO!!” the youngest of the command trine screamed, thrashing his Starscream’s arms. 

 

:Skywarp, calm yourself!: Starscream hissed at the purple seeker through the private comm. lines.

 

The purple seeker struggled harder, kicking at his leader in his desperate attempt to get to his mate. :We need to get him ‘Screamer! We can’t leave him!:

 

Trying to calm his trine mate, Starscream used as gentle a voice as possible. :I know ‘Warp, and we will. But you need to calm yourself, Megatron is already suspicious. Do you really want our foolish leader to learn of _your_ foolish behavior?:

 

Skywarp stopped his struggling, falling limp in his leaders grasp. :No.: The purple seeker muttered.

 

Patting Skywarp’s helm, Starscream released the purple flier. :Good. Stay here, I’ll go fetch our moronic trine mate.:

 

Skywarp whimpered and fidgeted as Starscream released him. The trine leader moved to go fetch his fallen trine mate, when Megatron’s cold voice stopped him. “Leave him.”

 

Starscream whipped around awkwardly with a damaged wing to face his leader’s impassive face. “What!” Starscream screeched, leveling a glare at his leader.

 

“If Thundercracker is not strong enough to get back to base himself, then he does not deserve to come back. The Deception’s will be stronger without his weakness if he deactivates.” The mammoth Cybertronions blood red optics shifted to Skywarp. “And any other Decepticon that goes down with him does not deserve to live.”

 

Both Starscream and Skywarp froze at his words as Megatron’s red optics bore into the purple seeker. He may not have been positive that Megatron knew about the bonding, but Starscream was sure that their leader had a good idea.

 

Needing to protect the trine, Starscream forced his faceplates to be unemotional. His red optics glanced at Skywarp, who was looking worried and scared, and back to Megatron. Starscream had to make a choice; either follow their leader’s order or not. Either way, the trine would suffer. But which was the less of two evils…

 

Starscream gritted his dental plates and bowed his head, hating himself for doing it. He pinged Skywarp, and made a clear order. :Don’t react. I vow to you, we will come back for him first chance we get.: 

 

The purple seeker stiffened behind his leader, steeling himself for what was about to occur. “Of course Lord Megatron. We will do what is necessary for the army.”

 

Megatron’s optics narrowed on his normally traitorous SIC. He had not expected Starscream to give up the fight so quickly, and was disappointed that he had done so. There had to be some alternative motive, but what was it?

 

Skywarp shifted nervously, drawing Megatron’s attention back to the purple flier. It clicked in the grey mech’s processor then, causing the mech to smirk. The tri colored flier was protecting Skywarp, the youngest and most useless of the three. Megatron snorted at both fliers. “Pathetic,” Megatron sneered at the seekers, causing them both to flinch.

 

Helm still bowed, Starscream clenched his jaw mechanism shut tight.  He didn’t see when Megatron’s grey fist shot up to his black helm, punching him hard. Starscream was forced off balance, stumbling in the air. :DON’T REACT!: Starscream snarled to Skywarp as the purple jet looked as though he were going to help the air commander.

 

Skywarp froze and looked worried. :Don’t look so worried. Keep your face impassive and don’t show weakness.: Starscream snarled again. Skywarp did as he was told, dropped his shoulders and straightened his back, keeping his arms at his side. He managed to sweep the emotions off his faceplates to look as blank as the other two.

 

Starscream took a position of subordination; helm down, shoulders and wings drooping and never quiet meeting Megatron’s optics. It was a position that the tri colored seeker had learned long ago to appease his leader.

 

Megatron snorted at Starscream. “Now there’s a good little seeker. Let’s go. If Thundercracker is truly worthy, he’ll make it back on his own.” The grey mech shot a dark look at the purple jet then turned to fly back to base.

 

:First chance we get.: The trine leader assured. Without looking back, the tri colored jet moved to fly after his leader.

 

Skywarp looked down at where Thundercracker crashed and after making a strangled cry in his throat, flew after Starscream. Guilt and self-loathing eating away at the purple jet’s spark; Thundercracker would have never left Skywarp behind.

()()()

 

The blue seeker groaned as he moved, forcing himself to all fours. Energon poured from the wound in his side and what was left of his wing as pain seared across his sensors. The seeker coughed hard, bringing up energon as he forced himself onto his pedes.

 

His long limber legs were shaking as he slowly moved towards the horse farm, his only reference point he had in Nebraska at the moment. He swayed on his pedes as pain ate away at his strength. He just wished the pain would fade, just a little.

 

The high red barn quickly came into view, with its wooden fences that were pens that kept the four legged creatures that humans kept in. His aching pedes hit gravel as he came to the road, and the seeker lost his balance. He went crashing to the ground, landing hard on his knees. Using his servos to keep himself from eating dirt, Thundercracker looked around for some kind of shelter.

 

More energon leaked from his wounds and down his cracked chin plates. And the pain…oh the pain. He wished he hadn’t crashed as hard as he had, maybe then he would have been able to fly. He cast his blood red optics to the dark sky, glad that his mate had left with Starscream. The blue seeker wasn’t angry that they had left him there; a weakness like pity from his trine mates would not be tolerated in Megatron’s presence. 

 

Besides, he had forced Starscream into a pact that if he had ever been shot down and lost behind enemy lines, Starscream was to get Skywarp to safety at any cost.

 

Another wave of pain shuttered through Thundercracker’s damaged frame, dragging his attention back to the situation at hand. Looking around for shelter, Thundercracker spotted the horse trailer from earlier, and was glad that it was empty.

 

Forcing his body to move, Thundercracker crawled across the gravel, leaving a trail of cooling energon in his wake. Pain ate away at every circuit, making the seeker want to lie down and slip into recharge. The doors to the horse trailer were slightly open, so the seeker was able to tug the doors wide open without having to break the lock.

 

Looking inside, Thundercracker sighed. There was no hay or bedding inside the trailer that would have got caught in his joints and stick to the drying energon on his frame. It would be a tight fit, the blue seeker knew, but with one wing missing he was sure he could. At least getting away from this area would mean getting away from the Autobots. That would at least buy him enough time to get back to base or at least close enough for his Trine to find him. He just hoped that his spark dampener had not been damaged in the crash.

 

The seeker steeled himself for what he was about to do, Thundercracker thought of Skywarp. If he wanted to see his mate again, he was going to cram his large body into this damn horse trailer. Taking a deep intake of air, Thundercracker climbed inside; his damaged wing struts rubbing painfully along the roof of the trailer. Pulling his remaining wing tight against his back, he slithered along on his belly, pulling himself forward inch by inch until his black helm rested uncomfortably against the trailer wall. He twisted around so that he lay on his wingless side, he pulled his knees up as far as they could so they too, were pressed against the wall of the trailer. He finally pulled his pedes inside the trailer, using the tip of one to pull the doors close as best he could and rested his pedes against the opposite wall from his knees.

In a lot of pain and great discomfort, Thundercracker let his optics power down. No longer able to stay conscious, Thundercracker slipped into an uneasy recharge. Pain ate away at his processor even in a state of unconsciousness, as his self-repair systems tried to fix the damage.

 

 

 


	2. A Day at the Farm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors Note: Hurray, chapter two! I would like to thank my fabulous betas as always, Maverick1997 and Brighter Than the Sun, Sunny. As always, you guys rock my socks and gave the chapter its polish

**Important Information:**

“...” Speaking

:...: comm. link

 ** _‘....’_** bonded speech

‘...’ thinking

 

 **Astrosecond** \- 2.5 earth Seconds

 **Klik** \- 150 earth seconds/ 2.5 earth Minutes

 **Orn** \- 150 earth minutes/ 2.5 earth Hours

 **Joor** \- 60 earth hours/2.5 earth Days

 **Metacycle** \- 17.5 earth days/2.5 earth Weeks

 **Vorn** \- 10 earth weeks/2.5 earth months

 **Stellercycle** -30 earth months/2.5 years

 **Breem** -slang for a moment/minute.

 **Night Cycle** : star down to star up

 **Day Cycle** : Star up to star down

 **Disclaimer** : I own only my OC’s, nothing else. Transformers and all characters are owned by other people. Makes me sad.  
()()()

Callie McCormick came out of the old farm house fighting the tears that threatened to fall from her blue eyes. She wiped her face with the back of her hand and ignored the rolling emotions that seemed to have knotted in her stomach.

The small female leaned against the wooden railing of the porch and noticed with disinterest that the white paint was peeling and chipping. Her balcony would never have gotten to such a state; she would not have allowed it. Another pang of guilt nearly dropped the women to her knees and she wished her cousin Daniela was with her. Daniela, or Danny, was always the strong one. Her cousin had been the one to pull their small family from the dumps and done what needed to be done in order to survive. The cousins didn’t always see eye to eye, but in the end the pair always did what was needed and worked hard as a team to do it.

Callie sighed and dropped her head, her dark blond hair falling over her face. Danny had offered to come with them for support and help get them through the last big loss from their childhood. But Callie had needed to do this alone with Lucy. It was their responsibility to care for the horses, and they would sell them together. 

A sudden sob racked her frame and she allowed herself to drop to her knees. It was done; she and Lucy had gone out for their last ride with the horses their father had bought them, the paper work had been signed and now it was time to go home. 

The farmer that she had sold the horses to, Mr. Tleato, had boarded the horses on and off for years, so Callie knew the horses would be taken care of. Mr. Tleato had also promised to keep the horses for as long as he could and give the girls a chance to buy them back. But Callie had no delusions and knew it would be impossible with the life style they were forced to live.  

Their last ride would be one Callie would never forget; it had been a perfect quiet night when three fighter jets screamed across the sky. Little Lucy, Callie’s young sister, had pointed up at the sky with childish excitement; standing up in her stirrups she had squealed in delight that one was painted _purple!_

Callie laughed through her tears at the memory and pressed her hand to her mouth to help control her hysterics. ‘Imagine a jet like that painted purple,’ the woman thought as she picked herself up and regained her footing. She took a few deep breaths and wiped away the tears that stained her pretty face. She adjusted her denim jacket so that it fit properly over her body and she walked off the porch, skipping over the last white step.

She marched away from farm house as an odd, loud screeching noise assaulted her ears. Scrunching up her face, she looked skyward but saw nothing. It had almost sounded like a missile, but the sound had come from some place in the distance. Callie dismissed that thought after all, why would a missile be fired in Nebraska? ‘Of course,’ Callie mused as she walked to the barn, ‘what were fighter jets doing out this far into the country?’   




The blond shrugged it off, and knew sometimes it was better not to ask questions like ‘why is there a purple fighter jet firing missiles in Nebraska?’ Nothing good ever came from asking questions like that. 

Callie took a deep breath to calm herself as she came to the door of the barn. She didn’t want Lucy to see her upset and knew she had to be the strong one this time. The blond pressed her tanned hands flat to the red wood of the door and banged her head against it. “This is bull shit!” she snarled to herself, keeping the crest of her head against the door.

Her hands curled into small fists and she wanted to hit something, preferably the door. But such rash actions were never her style, and the more sensible part of her brain told her that causing physical harm to her hands would do nothing for her. Instead of hitting the door, she pressed it open and stepped into the poorly lit barn.

She spotted her baby sister immediately; the nine year old was sitting on the ledge of the door to a horse pen, with her short legs dangling down the inside. Lucy held her hand out flat to her dapple-grey mare and fed her apple slices as she gently rubbed the horses head.

Callie sighed and walked over to the smaller blond, leaning against the stalls wall beside her sister. In the stall next to the dapple-grey was her own painted gelding. Well Patch used to be her horse, he now belonged to Tleato and so did Cinderella.

Looking over at Lucy, Callie gently said, “I’m sorry Lucy, but we need to get going.”

Lucy, who had the same dark blue eyes as Callie, looked up at her sister sadly, “Do we have to?”

“Yeah. It’s a long drive back to L.A., and you know Danny will worry if we take too long to make it home,” Callie reasoned. Lucy’s small head dropped and she wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her coat. “I know it’s hard Lucy. But you know we have to do this.”

Lucy sniffed and bit at her lip in an attempt to not cry, "Do you think 'Ella will miss me?"     

Callie glanced over at Patch as the brown and white horse chewed on hay, "I think she will, and I doubt she'll love her new owners as much as she loved you." It was a weak attempt at comfort, but there was so little Callie could do and she hated feeling so useless. After a moment of silence, Callie sighed in regret, "We really need to go. Like I said, it's a long drive home." 

Lucy nodded and muttered a small good bye to Cinderella. The girl threw her legs over the edge of the stall wall and let Callie pick her up. The small blond buried her face into her older sister’s shoulder and began to sob. Running her fingers through her light blond hair, Callie tried to comfort the young girl as best she could. The older blond paused for only a moment to whisper good bye to Patch, and headed for the door of the barn.     




However, as Callie reached the door, a terrifying noise had her diving to a corner for cover.  The closest thing that could be described as to what that noise sounded like was a train crashing; the sound of steel screaming, snapping and crumpling coincided with shattering of glass and something ripping into the ground. The walls of the barn trembled with the ground, and Callie pushed Lucy tighter into the corner. If the barn should fall, Callie had hoped that her body  would protect Lucy enough for a recovery team to save her.

The terrifying noises eventually stopped, as did the shaking of the walls, and an eerie silence filled the night. But still Callie didn’t move, not trusting whatever had caused the noise to be safe. She jumped when she heard jet engines roar overhead several minutes later, and the blond couldn’t help but wonder if it had been an attack of some kind. There were some crazy rumours that had been spreading over the internet lately, something about robotic aliens and the government. Callie had naturally brushed those rumours off as nonsense and she did so again, but for just half a second she believed that aliens could be the cause of that noise. It was, after all, better than the alternative.

After the jet’s screamed overhead, Callie stayed still not trusting herself to not panic. Not moving, for the moment, was safe. A fearsome _thud, thud, thud,_ had Callie shaking hard and caused Lucy to whimper in fright. In a distant part of her mind, Callie thought the _thudding_ sounded like unstable footsteps moving to the road, but again that would be imposable.  Fear ate away at Callie’s mind, and she would have stayed in the dark corner all night had she not heard someone calling her name. 

“Callie! Callie-girl, where are you?” a deep male voice called out from the night.

The familiar voice snapped Callie out of her stunned state, causing her to jolt into awareness. She unsteadily got to her feet, still clinging to Lucy. Looking down at the smaller girl, Callie asked, “You ok?”

Blue eyes, bright with fear, peered up at her. “What was that?”

Callie shrugged awkwardly, still holding onto Lucy, “I don’t know.”  




“CALLIE!” The deep voice called again, drawing the blonds’ attention away from her sister. “I’m in the barn Mr. Tleato. We’re ok.”

Callie used her shoulder to push through the red door of the barn, and moved out into the cool night air. In the not so far distance, it looked as though a bomb had gone off in the field; a fire had started, burning away the hay, the ground was turned up as if a giant had torn at it, and shards of _something_ littered the ground. A strange pink liquid that shimmered in an odd sort of way covered the ground as though someone had bled it. In her trance, Callie didn’t see a heavy set man approach her from behind.  He laid his hand on her thin shoulder, causing Callie to scream and jump away. She spun around, ready to kick out at whoever was behind her, but stopped when she saw it was Mr. Tleato.     

Sagging in relief, Callie heaved a sigh, “Mr. Tleato. You scared the living hell out of me.”

The dark haired man pushed his hands into his pockets and gave a nervous laugh. “Sorry Callie. Just wanted to make sure that you and Lucy were ok when I spotted that you’re truck was still here.”

Callie bobbed her head yes, blond hair bouncing, “Thanks. I… We’re ok.” Her face was pinched and worried looking. 

Tleato nodded, now looking worried at Callie. “You sure you’re ok Callie?”

“Yeah. It’s just I thought I had heard something. Well something weird.” Callie said, turning to look back at the odd pink fluid.

Tleato laughed, “How’d you hear anything during that explosion?”

Callie paused before answering, “It was after. What do you think it was?”

Mr. Tleato, frowned, staring at the fire that ate at his hay field, “I don’t know. But I need the fires’ put out, so I’ve called for firefighters and no doubt the police will accompany them.”

Callie shifted uncomfortably, she had never had a good run in with the police, “Do you think I should stay and speak with them?”

“Nah, I don’t know what you could tell them that I couldn’t. You’d better get going Callie.” The older farmer said, distracted by his burning crops.

The blond nodded, “You’ll take care of Patch and Cinderella. Right?”

Tleato gave her a sad smile. “’Course I will. Take care of yourself Callie.”

Giving one last glance at the wreckage, Callie turned and walked to her truck. With her back turned, Lucy peeked over Callie’s shoulder to wave good bye to Mr. Tleato, who was staring at his burning fields didn’t see the small blonds’ sad face.

Callie walked to her large horse trailer and put Lucy onto the ground, “Go get in the truck Lucky, we need to get out of here before the cops get here.”

Lucy nodded and ran to the front of the black truck. It had been a gift from Danny after the last job she had done when they have been living in Boston. She had walked into a Ford dealership, pointed at a black F-350 Super Duty truck with the super cab, 4x4 and 16,000 lbs of towing capability and said ‘I want that one.’

Callie shook her head as she secured the doors of the trailer and locked them closed. As she walked to the front of her truck she laughed a little to herself, perhaps more because of the adrenalin that coursed through her veins; Danny had paid cash for the truck and it had been the last big purchase prior to her going straight. It was kind of ironic though, Callie finally convinces Danny it’s time to do things legally and then they can no longer afford the horses. But sacrifices needed to be made, and Callie wanted to show Danny that it would be okay doing things legally for once. The result was she was selling her horse.

Shaking her head, Callie pulled herself up into the massive truck and settled in to the driver seat. Glancing at her sister, who had curled into the passenger seat, fidgeting with her hands. Callie dropped her hand onto Lucy’s head, “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t want to leave the horses here. It’s not safe.” Lucy said softly, her voice trembling a little.

Callie frowned, her guilt coming back tenfold, “They’ve boarded here before, they’ll be okay.”

The little girl made a displeased noise and looked out the window. Callie sighed sadly and started the truck, it roared to life easily. Casting one last glance at Lucy, Callie easily popped the truck into drive and pulled out onto the gravel driveway. Cassie didn’t realize that she popped the truck into the third gear, something she did out of habit, so she didn’t notice that the trailer was heavier than it should have been. 

She pulled out from the drive way and onto the road, passing the wreckage in the field. She shook her head at the destruction, and knew it was time to get out of Dodge. So deep in thought and worry that Callie didn’t even notice a red and gold Lamborghini’s streak past her.

()()()

Thundercracker jerked violently into awareness when he heard a truck’s engine scream to life. His red optics snapped on, sparking twice from the left one and glowed as it became apparent it was the only source of light in his dark world. Dazed and confused, he tried to move his once proud frame and pain seared across his entire body for his efforts. He gasped and tried to curl into himself, but his body couldn’t compress any tighter within the confines of his enclosure.

Panic gripped the seeker then as he couldn’t remember anything from the last few hours, although he was sure he and his trine were going for a flight. ‘Have I been captured?’ he thought to himself as he pressed his servos to the flimsy walls of his cage and felt along it looking for some kind of indication to where he was. It was so dark he couldn’t see anything past his servo and the only light came from the glow of his optics. His panic rose, twisting his tanks in an awful way when he realized he couldn’t get out and feel the wind on his faceplates.

Thinking of wind brought about another realization; he was missing a wing and it made him freeze, his mind going black. He was currently a _flightless seeker_! Flightless! With his pain forgotten in his panic, his intakes hitched. _Flightless!_ Screamed over and over in his CPU.

He curled his servos into fists and prepared to rip his way out of his prison; if he could only feel the wind he would be much calmer he was sure of it. Then a gentle presence curled around his consciousness, sending weak waves of calm and Thundercracker knew it was Skywarp.

The blue seeker calmed dramatically and with his CPU free from the stress, the memories of the last Earth hour came rushing back to him. He remembered how he was shot down and crash landed somewhere in Nebraska. He had climbed into this thing- _horse trailer! He climbed into a horse trailer-_ for shelter.

His frame relaxed, and he sagged in relief. His black helm came to rest against the wall and he grunted as the pain came back to assault his senses. All he had to do was first, get far enough away from Autobot territory, then second, get away from his ride and he’d be home free to contact Skywarp to come get him.

Sending a pulse of love through the bond, Thundercracker closed it off. He would need to think clearly in order to survive the next few human days and he couldn’t be distracted by wild emotions from his mate.

Trying to make himself as comfortable as he could, Thundercracker powered down his optics and went back to recharge. ‘Hope my self-repair systems get a little further along this time.’ The blue mech thought to himself as he powered down for the humans short night cycle.

()()()

Skywarp dragged his pedes down the dark halls of the Nemesis. It had been a full eight hours since the incident in Nebraska, and the young jet was exhausted. After arriving back at base, Megatron had ripped into the two remaining seekers for ‘their stupidity’ as Megatron had put it.

Of course the ripping into had been figuratively for Skywarp, and after Megatron was done telling him how stupid he was had sent the purple jet to monitor duty for the next night cycle. That would not have been a problem normally, but the seekers had gone for their flight right after their last shift and they had not gotten their ration of energon. Between a lack of energon, no recharge and doing shifts back to back between a long flight had left Skywarp ready to fall down.

Starscream, on the other hand, and been dealt the brunt of their leader’s anger. Where Megatron had only verbally tore into Skywarp, the massive grey mech had done it literally to his Air Commander. Skywarp could only watch in a sick sort of horror as Megatron had rammed his massive fist into Starscream’s abdomen, ripping past his thin plating and tore out a servo full of random wires and parts.

Once board, Megatron had let the seeker be and allowed Skywarp to drag him down to the medbay for repairs. Hook on his part had grumbled about wasting time on repairs for the 'sub-pare' SIC. The medic even had the nerve to actually ask the teleporter when Megatron would just allow Starscream to deactivate.

“It’ll save time and resources." Hook had shrugged as he looked over the damaged frame with disinterest. 

Naturally, Skywarp had defended his trine leader and made sure that Hook knew that Megatron wanted Starscream repaired. The teleporter wouldn't have put it past the constructicon to just let Starscream deactivate.

After making sure that Hook had at least begun the other jet's repairs, Skywarp had gone to the communication deck and to do his duty. Near the end of that shift, Starscream had pinged the teleporter to let him know he had made it out of Hook's clutches and was in his quarters. It was a courtesy the seekers had done for each other since joining the Decepticon army. 

Once the youngest jet knew his trine leader at least was safe, had gone back to work with a little more vigour. He did, however, continue trying to feel Thundercracker through their spark bond. Skywarp had succeeded only once during the beginning of his shift when he was suddenly hit by such a wave of panic that it caused the purple seeker gasp out loud. 

From behind the flier, Soundwave looked up at the sharp noise that interrupted the quite of the communication deck. Canting his blue helm ever so slightly to the side, Soundwave's robotic voice rang out, "Inquiry. What is your malfunction Skywarp?" 

Panic assaulted Skywarp from Thundercracker's side of the bond, making it difficult to concentrate on the Decepticons TIC. Sending a weak push of calm to Thundercracker, Skywarp turned to face Soundwave. The large blue mech sat at his console, still and unyielding, waiting for an answer. Blanking his mind like Starscream had taught him, Skywarp began concentrating on something else. 

 _'Energon, Energon, Energon'_   Skywarp repeated in his mind as he scowled at his TIC. "Human's call them hunger pains. Haven’t had an energon ration since last cycle, and I'm hungry." 

It was a lame excuse, Skywarp had known but he kept his faceplates in a scowl as his own panic started to build. The teleporter waited in silence as love was sent to him from Thundercracker's side of the bond, warming Skywarp. Then just as suddenly as the connection was made, Thundercracker cut it off leaving the youngest seeker feeling very much alone with the quiet telepath. The silence stretched on into minutes, the purple jet worried that Soundwave would just use his telepathy and pluck the truth right from his processor, dooming Thundercracker and himself.   

Eventually Soundwave spoke, "Understood. Current situation is a punishment. Retrieve energon on your own time.” With that, the boxy blue mech looked back down at his console and back to whatever he was working on.

Not wanting to push his luck, Skywarp quickly turned back around to his own console. He had been so relieved that the telepath hadn’t used his telepathy, and thanked Primus for blessing him for once. It had never occurred to him once as to why Soundwave had not bothered to use his abilities.

The rest of the shift had gone smoothly and Skywarp hadn’t been forced to interact with Soundwave again. The second his shift was over, the purple jet bolted for the exit, desperate to get away from the blue mech. In his haste to escape, he didn’t see Soundwave shake his head or hear the odd, dry noise that _maybe_ could have been a chuckle from deep in the blue chest.

That was how Skywarp found himself wandering around Nemesis after getting his ration of energon. He hadn’t wanted to go back to his own quarters where he knew no one was waiting for him. The F-15 knew that he’d never be able to recharge as long as Thundercracker was still lost out there somewhere, with no bot to help him.

Fatigue was eating away at what little reserves Skywarp did have and he knew he needed to recharge. He had another shift coming in a few Earth hours and he’d never be able to function if he didn’t at least get some form of rest.

He did dread at having to recharge alone though. Thundercracker had been with Skywarp for so long that the purple jet didn’t think he would be able to recharge without Thundercracker’s EM field brushing against his own.

Knowing that he’d never get enough rest on his own, Skywarp had really only seen one alternative and had ended up in front of Starscream’s quarters. His red optics stared at the plain grey metal of the door with a sense of dread and foreboding. Fidgeting with his black digits, Skywarp was hit with a pang of worry; he knew that Starscream would not be happy with him being there and be even unhappier at Skywarp’s request.

Before he could lose his nerve, Skywarp typed in the seeker override code to Starscream’s quarters and palmed the door open. Stepping inside, Skywarp turned for a moment to close and lock the door behind him and turned back to peer into the trine leaders room.

Starscream was laying on his berth deep in recharge across from where Skywarp was standing. The air commander lay on his belly with his arms bent at the elbows and helm resting on his servos. His wings were spread out wide across his back and stretching the width of the berth.  Skywarp stood at the entrance way feeling a little awaked at seeing his trine leader in such a state of vulnerability. It didn’t happen often and the young seeker was unsure of how to progress.

Clearing his intakes, Skywarp called out in a mock whisper, “Hey, Starscream. Are you awake?”

Starscream’s frame jerked a little and a black helm rose from equally black servos, “Skywarp? What in the Pit are you doing in my quarters?”    

Dropping ruby optics to the ground Skywarp shifted uneasily, “I can’t recharge.” he explained, jumping right into what he wanted.

Looking unimpressed, Starscream could only stare at his trine mate, “Why is that my problem?”

“Well, you see ‘Screamer, I was kind of hoping that I could recharge here.” Skywarp dropped his wings and gave his trine leader his best kicked puppy look.

Still looking unmoved by his trine mate’s plight, Starscream scowled and dropped his helm back to his servos. “No.”

“Please Starscream?”

The tri coloured seeker turned his faceplates to face the wall of his quarters. “I said no. Go to your own quarters.”

“Come one ‘Screamer! I can’t go into recharge without TC and I have shift tomorrow.”

“Again, how is this my problem?” Starscream mumbled, going back into recharge.

“I’m asking you as part of the trine. I can’t recharge without TC’s EM field next to mine.”

Starscream’s helm came back up to scowl at Skywarp and a look that was possibly hurt passed over his grey faceplates. “Oh, so you only came here to _use_ my EM field?” 

“Well, no. Not like that.” Starscream’s look darkened, and Skywarp knew he was losing the fight, “Come on Starscream. You know I can’t recharge without TC and I don’t trust any other Decepticon enough to recharge with.”

The trine leader relaxed marginally at Skywarp’s admission to trust, but his faceplates still had a dark look. The Decepticon in Starscream told him to send Skywarp away after a good glossa lashing for his weakness. However, the seeker coding had Starscream pulling his wings close to his back and shifting over to make room for his trine mate. Turning onto his side with his back to Skywarp, Starscream snapped, “Well come on, get in.”

The purple seeker made a pleased noise and practically jumped onto the berth beside his trine mate. Wiggling slightly to make himself comfortable, Skywarp pulled his own wings in tight and lay on his side. Lying back to back with Starscream, the young seeker sighed contently and happily said, “Thanks ‘Screamer.”

Their EM fields mixed together, calming even Starscream for at least a little while. “Whatever Skywarp, just remember I’m not Thundercracker. No cuddling.”

Skywarp snorted as the SIC’s optics dimmed, getting ready to power back down for recharge. Suddenly turning over, the purple F-15 pressed his faceplates into the spot where Starscream’s wings joined to white back plates, nuzzling into it.

Starscream froze, his optics brightening with awareness when he felt his trine mate nestling against his back, “Skywarp, what did I just say about no cuddling!”

The purple seeker snickered, wrapping his arms around his own waist. “I’m not cuddling. I’m only pressing my face into your wing joint.”

“That’s cuddling!”

“Nah-ah. Cuddling involves two parties. Since you’re not cuddling back, I’m not breaking your rule.”

Sputtering, Starscream pushed himself up onto one elbow and twisted around to stare at his trine mate. “What are you talking about? Of course it’s still cuddling, you twit! Now stop it.”

Instead, Skywarp off lined his optics and started his recharge protocol. Starscream could hear his trine mate’s systems beginning to shut down in preparation for recharge. Gaping at Skywarp, Starscream could only sputter, “Skywarp I’m not kidding! Stop it.”

The purple jet ignored his leader, snuggling deeper into the white back and wing plates. Sighing in aggravation, Starscream just gave up. He was far too tired and sore to deal with his juvenile trine mate. Twisting back around, the tricolored jet banged his helm against his berth with a sharp _clang_ before settling back down to recharge.

Shifting slightly, Skywarp quietly asked, “Are you ok?”

The Decepticon SIC sighed, “Settle to recharge Skywarp. I don’t want to talk about it.” Starscream knew that Skywarp was referring to the day’s incident with Megatron. Ego bruised and feeling like slag, Starscream just wanted to recharge.

Frowning, Skywarp settled quietly next to the older jet and yet again whished Thundercracker was with them. He always seemed to know how to uplift the other jet’s spirit, and the feeling of incompleteness settled in both their sparks; they did however take a small comfort in each other’s presence, even if Starscream would have rather deactivated than ever admit that to anybot. Skywarp on the other hand, instinctively knew the truth.

()()()

**TBC...**

               

 

 

 

         

 


	3. First Encounter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors Note: All right guys, chapter 3 of Running wild! I would like to say thank you to the wonderful Brighter Than the Sun, Sunny, for betaing this chapter. Awesome job as always. 
> 
> Last thing, yes the trailer that Callie is towing is a larger horse trailer and the reason that she is towing a trailer that size and only two horses will be explained later. Not yet, but soon! Anyways, enjoy the chapter!

**Important Information**

“...” Speaking

:...: comm. link

 ** _‘....’_** bonded speech

‘...’ thinking

 

 **Astrosecond** \- 2.5 earth Seconds

 **Klik** \- 150 earth seconds/ 2.5 earth Minutes

 **Orn** \- 150 earth minutes/ 2.5 earth Hours

 **Joor** \- 60 earth hours/2.5 earth Days

 **Metacycle** \- 17.5 earth days/2.5 earth Weeks

 **Vorn** \- 10 earth weeks/2.5 earth months

 **Stellercycle** -30 earth months/2.5 years

 **Breem** -slang for a moment/minute.

 **Night Cycle** : star down to star up

 **Day Cycle** : Star up to star down

**Disclaimer** : : I own only my OC’s, nothing else.  
  


()()()

Sunstreaker was irritated. This was not an unusual occurrence for the golden frontliner, but that particular day his irritation had reached a fever pitch. They had shot down one of the aggravating seekers, Thundercracker, but the slagger had disappeared. Vanished into thin air.

The twins knew that he had to be close to the downed flier, there was dried energon all over the ground. The crusted fluid had dulled to a purple, and droplets of it lead a distinct path to the only horse farm in the area. It had been twelve hours since they shot the blue seeker down, and they were just able to get to the crash site. The human’s who had come to put out the fires had only left an hour ago, and the famer had retreated back into his farm house. This gave the twins a chance to finally investigate where the flier had gone down.

Much to Sunstreaker’s complete aggravation, they had found nothing but a wing. A single, slagging wing, and the gold Lamborghini knew he wouldn’t be going home any time soon.

Sideswipe was crouched next to a line of spilt energon and held onto the bent wing. It had been torn off in the crash, making even the frontliner cringe at the thought of having an appendage ripped off. “Where the slag did he go?” the red mech asked quietly, looking around carefully.

Growling deep in his engine, Sunstreaker snarled, “Who cares. Let him rot out here.”

Making a non-comitial noise, the crimson frontliner stood up fully. “You think Skywarp got to him?”

Rolling his optics, Sunstreaker sighed in exasperation, “No. I saw that slag heap take off with Starscream and Megatron. They left Thundercracker here.” 

Frowning, Sideswipe tossed the damaged wing behind him, no longer caring about the appendage, “Then where is he? It’s not like he can fly out of here and I doubt he can walk with the amount of energon loss.”

Figuring that he should help, if he ever wanted to get home to polish his armour, Sunstreaker came to stand next to his brother and surveyed the area. The gold Lamborghini’s frown deepened when his icy optics fell on the large white farm house. There was something different about it, something missing.

“Slag.” Sunstreaker snarled as it clicked in his processor that something was indeed missing.

Sideswipe tilted his black helm to look at his brother, curiosity marring his faceplates, “What?”

Dental plates pressed tightly together, the golden mech hissed in aggravation. “Why didn’t we see it before!”

“What, what did we miss?”

Extending a gold and black arm, Sunstreaker pointed to an empty space in front of the house, “There was a horse trailer there. It was there when we drove by and its gone now.”

“So. What’s your point.” Sideswipe asked carefully, trying to catch on to what his brother’s point was.

Sunstreaker growled, trying desperately to hang on to his last bit of patience, “The energon droplets head to where it had been sitting.”

A look of worry flashed over the crimson mech’s face. “You don’t think he hitched a ride, do you?”

The twins shared a look and sighed in unison. Moving as one, they slowly followed the trail of spilt energon. They tried to keep as quiet as possible so they would not alert the human in the house to their presence.

The twins crouched when they got to the end of the energon trail, examining the tire treads in the dirt. Scratching at his dark helm, Sideswipe sighed, “We’ll never be able to track this and I don’t sense his spark signature anywhere nearby. His dampener must still be active.”

Feeling himself calming now that he was actively doing something, Sunstreaker nodded, “Comm. Prowl. Tell him what we’ve found and get him to send Hound. He should be able to track the direction the Seeker went in.”

As his brother folded down into his alt mode, Sideswipe asked, “You think the humans took him on purpose? Lennox has heard rumours about those scientists in Nevada looking for aliens.”

“Don’t know, don’t care. We just have to find him and the sooner we do that, the sooner I can wash this crud out of my joints.”

As Sunstreaker pulled out of the drive way, his twin sighed and shook his helm. He commed his second requesting for Hound’s present in Nebraska. Message sent, the crimson twin transformed into his sleek alt form and went to join his brother just outside the parameter of the farm. 

For the rest of the day Mr. Tleato wondered why a pair of high performance Lamborghinis were sitting outside his farm with no owners in sight. So wrapped up in the beautiful frames of the sports cars, the famer didn’t even notice a dark green jeep pull up behind them many hours later.

()()()

High pitched laughter jolted Thundercracker out of recharge. He onlined his red optics slowly, worried that the left one would spark again but was relieved when it glowed dimly in the confines of the trailer. He managed to lift a dark servo to his faceplates to gently probe at the damage, and was relieved to find that his self-repair had managed to stitch the metal back together. Raised lines ran across the left side of the seekers face which would no doubt scar the steal because of the crash.

There was still a fine spider-web crack in the blue flier’s optic, but the wires had sealed shut so they no longer sparked. The vision in that optic was still staticy however, and sent double images of what he was witnessing to his processor. It made his equilibrium chips protest the images, making his processor feel as though it was spinning.

In order to stop the spinning, Thundercracker cut all the feed from that optic so that it would stop sending information altogether. Although it did stop the feeling that he was spinning, it was awkward to have only half of his vision in working order and not knowing what exactly was to his left. After all, hampered vision often resulted in death on the battle field.

To distract himself, the seeker looked around the tiny box he had shoved himself into; tinted windows lined both walls of the trailer and bright, clean light filtered through the dark glass. Along the roof of the trailer there were small clips that would have been used to secure the large animals that normally were transported within the trailer. The double doors were now closed and probably locked. But it wouldn’t matter, Thundercracker thought to himself, when it was time to leave he would be able to break the lock easily. The doors and walls of the trailer where thin and weak, and even in his state he could claw his way out.

Another bout of laughter brought the seekers thoughts back to where he was. Curious to see if he could figure out where in the states he was, Thundercracker eased a black digit up to the window. Making sure he didn’t apply to much pressure and break the glass, he slid the glass to the side to open it. It was a slow, painful process and Thundercracker’s servo shook with the effort.  He eventually pressed the window fully open, and a gust of cool wind brushed against the fliers faceplates.

Thundercracker sighed in relief when he felt the calm breeze and it soothed his battered mental state of mind. As long as he could feel the wind, he would be okay. The large seeker tilted his helm to get a better look at what was happening outside. The sun was shining and it was a warm day despite the nice breeze. They were in a parking lot, Thundercracker realized when he took a better look at the surroundings; the truck has stopped at a long, low lying building with a tall sign with a large yellow ‘M’ at the top of it.

He inhaled deeply and scented cooked meat on the wind. Scrunching up his face in disgust, Thundercracker pulled away from the window. “Must be a refuelling station.” The seeker said to himself, getting board of the silence, “But what kind of station is called McDonalds? That’s a terrible name.”

The seeker shook his helm at the stupidity of humans and settled back to enjoy the sunlight and wind. He tilted his helm towards the open window and kept his good optic on the humans outside, in case one of them came too close to the trailer. Much to Thundercracker relief, none did and eventually two yellow haired females approached the large truck.

The blue F-15 observed them carefully as they got closer; one was much smaller than the other, a human youngling, and looked very similar to the taller one. ‘Offspring perhaps?’ The flier couldn’t tell from his obscured field of vision. The small girl disappeared around the other side of the truck as the taller one opened the driver side door. Thundercracker heard two slams of heavy doors from the truck and an engine roaring to life once again. He felt the trailer lurch forward as the truck pulled a head, and they pulled back out onto the road.

Before the truck picked up speed, the seeker spotted a sign that read ‘I-80 WEST’. At least he knew which directions they were going in, but there were at least a dozen cities and ten states that could be reached from I-80.

The trucked picked up speed, the trees becoming a green and brown blur as the vehicle flew down the high way eating up the miles. Tilting his helm back towards the window, Thundercracker offlined his optic and tried to pretend he was flying.  If only he could get just a little more comfortable, he would be much more content.

Shifting his knees further apart, Thundercracker tried to get more comfortable but only succeeded in denting the side of the trailer. The metal bent outward with a sharp _pop_ that caused the large blue seeker to flinch. He began to pray to a god he no longer believed in that the human’s didn’t hear it, prayed with everything he had left in him.

Feelings of dread filled him as the truck began to slow down and pull to the side of the empty road. He groaned and ducked his helm low, maybe if he was lucky they wouldn’t look in the trailer. He heard the doors of the truck open, and then slammed closed.

“Did you hear that Callie?” he heard a childlike voice call out from the far side of the truck.

“I did. I don’t think I hit anything. Do you see anything under the truck?”

He could practically see the girls climbing on their hands and knees like animals to check under the truck, and the seeker had to stop himself form snorting. These small creatures were pathetic and belonged on the ground, bowing to a Decepticon. 

“There’s nothing under here.” He heard the older voice say, hearing the gravel dragging as she stood.

“Nope, I don’t see anything.” There was a pause as the little one stood as well and she gasped, “Whoa! Callie look at this, there’s a big fuck’en dent in the side of the trailer!”

“Lucy! Don’t swear!” the girl designated Callie scowled as she went around the truck, Thundercracker carefully listening to her very light footsteps.

“But Danny and Aleyah swear all the time!” the smaller female, Lucy, whined.

“I don’t care if Danny and Aleyah swear all the-oh shit! What the hell happened to the trailer!” Thundercracker could hear Callie say, surprise and shock evident in her voice.

"You swore." A sly little voice said, smugness bleeding through her tone.

“I’m older, so I’m aloud to.” There was a pause as the older female sighed, “How are we supposed to get that out? We’ll never sell the trailer with a dent like that.”   




Both females went silent again, no doubt examining the damage to their trailer, and Thundercracker began to feel hopeful that he would get out of this situation without being caught. That was until a small voice said, “Callie, did you leave a window open?”

There was a long pause form the older female, and Thundercracker could feel her tinny, pathetic eyes on the window, “No...I didn’t. Did you?”

The blue seeker could have banged his helm against the trailer at his own stupidity. That was the kind of stupid thing that Skywarp would have done. There was a pang of loneliness in the proud seeker when he thought of his young mate, desperately wishing he was lying in his berth back at base with Skywarp tucked safely in his arms. He worried for Starscream as well, knowing that Megatron would be furious at the air commander and the trine leader always leaned on him in times of strife. Thundercracker doubted that poor Skywarp could handle Starscream post beating.

Thundercracker’s musings were interrupted when he heard the trailer doors open and the large flier froze when the door was pulled open. He heard the soft gasp from the older girl when she saw his pedes pressing against the wall of the trailer, and he distantly wondered what was running through her mind.

Callie froze when she saw large, black _something_ sitting in her trailer- _her trailer!_ She couldn’t tell what it was, but it was huge and there was more black metal that disappeared into the shadows of the trailer. Eventually she found her voice and she managed to gasp out harshly, “What the hell is that?”

“You swore again.” Little Lucy’s small voice said somewhere from behind the older women.

“What the hell is that!” Callie said again, worry knotting her stomach as she stared up at the black something.

Lucy looked up at the dull black metal curiously, and then something clicked her little head. She gasped suddenly and darted from her sister’s grasp to the front of the truck. She pulled the door open and pulled herself up to the passenger seat. Reaching into her sister’s purse, she pulled out a black I-phone and darted back to a still stunned Callie.

“Do you remember when cousin Lizz showed us those videos on the internet? The ones about the aliens?” Thundercracker froze when he heard the little one say that.

“What...what of it?” Callie asked, still stunned by what she saw. Anxiety froze the seeker where he was, he didn’t want to have to kill these girls, not yet any way. He still needed to get further away from this area.

“This is one of those aliens!” Lucy said excitedly, “Here, look!”

The girl then pulled up the video of a pair of large metal beings fighting and shoved it up to her sister. As Callie numbly took the phone to watch with shaking hands, her sister went on, “He’s one of those aliens! He has to be.”

“The-there’s no such thing as aliens.” Callie managed, still staring at the screen, oblivious that Thundercracker’s burnt frame had stiffened from worry.

“I bet that’s the noise we heard at the farm.” Lucy explained, her innocent blue eyes staring up at the black metal. When her sister still didn’t answer, Lucy knew she had to do something more drastic. “Here, I’ll show you!”

With that the little girl jumped up onto the ledge of the trailer, and with a flat palm she slapped the bottom of Thundercracker’s pede as hard as her small arm could. With a sharp _thwack_ , Thundercracker felt a weak slap to his pede but it still stunned him and he snapped his optics on. His frame flinched from surprise, and he couldn’t believe that a small, insolent little brat had- _thwack,thwack,thwack-_ done it three more times.

“I know you can hear me Mr. Robot! Come out so we can talk!” Lucy called to the seeker, causing the large mech to growl.

The sound of irritation broke Callie from her frozen state and caused her to pull Lucy from the trailer. The little girl didn’t fight her sister, and dangled from her grip, “Come on Mr. Robot, I know you can hear me! You don’t have to be scared! We won’t hurt you!”

Callie stared dumbfounded at her little sister at the same time Thundercracker reached the end of his rope and his aggravation reached a breaking point. Taking a deep intake of air, Thundercracker began the long, slow process of pushing his damaged body from the trailer.

He heard one of the girls gasp as his pedes came from the trailer and touched the dirt of the ground. His long, blue legs followed then his damaged torso, with its repairing damage. Finally his upper frame and helm came from the trailer. He pushed his remaining wing out, glad to finally be able to stretch it out after having it cramped close to his body after so long. He kept his damaged optic off line, not wanting to get the feeling of spinning in his CPU again. He was, however, able to get his first look at the two he was currently hitching a ride with.

The older of the two was a tall, thin, wisp of a girl with tanned skin. Thundercracker could see that it had been darkened by the sun from hours of working out in the bright sun, and narrowing his vision in on her hands he could see that they were calloused; she must work out doors, the seeker had thought to himself as he studied her. Her hair was a color that humans call blond, but had been darkened from years in the sun and her eyes were dark blue.

The Decepticon shifted his optic to the smaller of the two, who still dangled from the taller girls grip. She had the same dark blue eyes as the other, which lead Thundercracker to guess she was related to the other in some way. The little girl’s hair was also blond, but much lighter in color and her skin was pale in comparison to her relative.

As Thundercracker looked down at them, they stared right back up at him; Callie with opened mouthed shock and Lucy with a huge grin of excitement. The alien was so much bigger than either of them, he could have easily stepped on both girls and ended their lives in a second. But the farm girl in Callie could easily see past the distant attitude to see that the large creature in front of her was injured.

The tall blond tilted her small head up to look at his face, and he scowled back down at her darkly. Minutes ticked by and no one said a thing, both adult parties too worried at destroying the peace. Lucy, however, quickly got bored with the quiet and wriggled from her sister’s hold. She stuck her tinny hand out to Thundercracker and puffed her chest out, "I'm Lucy!"

Thundercracker shifted his optics from the older girl to the tinny one attempting to shake his servo. He glared at her with distain, trying to ignore the pain that radiated from his abdominal plating. Lucy wasn't bothered by his nasty look, and just kept her massive smile beaming up at him, "It's okay, Mr. Robot you don't have to be afraid of us! You're so much bigger that you could step on us if you wanted to!"

"Lucy!" Callie snapped, pulling the little one behind her. Lucy fought her sister, and managed to poke her head past her. "Maybe he can't speak English! He can't understand us!" the small blond said excitedly, making Thundercracker sigh in aggravation. Callie had a pretty good idea that the giant robot in front of her knew exactly what was being said to him, "MY NAME IS LUCY! L-U-C-Y! LUCY!"

Audio's cracked and shorted slightly at the little girls high pitched voice, causing Thundercracker to offline his optics and rub at the bridge of his nasal structure. At the same time Callie turned her shocked face to her little sister, "Lucy, you need to be quiet right now."

Forcing air from his intakes in a large huff, Thundercracker gathered his patients and crossed his massive arms over his chest, preparing to speak to a human for the first time. He kept his tone low and calm, hoping that he would not frighten the humans, "I can understand you quiet well little one. I would, however, appreciate it if you would stop speaking so loudly."    




If at all possible, the little girls smile went wider across her small face. The older one's panic, however, bled into aggravation at the massive beings calm tone, "You can understand us?"

Thundercracker snorted at her, "Of course, your language is primitive compared to mine _and_ simple. Any fool with half a processor could learn it."

"Then you can understand my question, what the hell did you do to my trailer! Have you seen that stupid dent! How am I going to get that shit out?" Callie snapped, her hand waving at the damage done to her trailer.

Dropping his massive arms to his sides, Thundercracker stared dumbfounded at the small, weak human in front of him, "W-what?" he asked dumbly, unable to process what was occurring.

"My trailer! What the fuck did you do to it?" Callie snapped her aggravation increasing.

Looking slyly up at her sister, Lucy grinned like a shark, "You swore again."

Callie prided herself on being the family member that kept calm in stressful situations; it had saved their lives many a time. But at that moment, Callie snapped, the last of her patience crumbling at her little sisters innocent words. "I don't give a shit! How in the hell am I supposed to sell this fucking thing now that it has a massive dent in it! Thanks a lot fuck head, do you know how much you just cost me! No one’s going to buy a bloody damaged trailer that stained with, with...that pink shit!" She snapped, her tanned face going red with anger while her hand pointed to the spilt energon that covered the trailer.

Lucy smirked up at her sister, and opened her mouth to comment on Callie's cursing, but the older blond beat her to the punch. "I don't care if I swore!"

The damaged seeker stared in shock at the tinny, insignificant human as she dropped her head to rub at her eyes. Lucy grinned up at her sister then turned her attention back to Thundercracker, "What's your name Mr. Robot?"

Making a noise of irritation, Thundercracker shifted uncomfortably. This was not how he had hoped this little conversation would go; he had expected the humans to scream and run. Panic is what humans always did when they spotted Cybertronions, weather they were Autobots or Decepticons. The few humans that didn't panic at the site of them always ended up helping the Autobots, and finding ways to make the Decepticons lives a living hell. The humans that didn't panic always stuck to their new guardians like slagging weld patches.

The seeker pushed those weak thoughts from his processor, he needed to be cool and calculating if he was going to manipulate these humans into helping him, "My designation is Thundercracker, my faction is the Decepticons."

Lucy looked curiously up at the tall flier, "What's a designation and a faction?"

Thundercracker sighed, his shoulders drooping. Callie saw this small movement, and answered for him, "It's a fancy way of saying his name and a group he belongs to."

The little girls eyes twinkled with excitement as she stared up at the seeker, but Callie stared up at him suspiciously, "If you’re from a faction, who's on the other side?"

'Clever girl.' Thundercracker thought to himself, glad that he saw no flicker of recognition in her eyes at the faction name. He dropped to one knee partly from fatigue, and partly to get closer to them. He needed their help, he loathed to admit that, but with the damage done to his frame he had no choice. With the right words however, he could manipulate this girl into helping him.  If he could make them think they were helping the 'good guys' with a sob story and half-truths he could get them to help him. Getting closer to the older of the two, the seeker asked, "What's your name girl?"  

Narrowing her dark blue eyes, she quietly said, "I'm not a _girl._ I'm old enough that I've earned the title _woman_."

Thundercracker snorted at her, "You’re what, twenty-three, twenty-four?"

"Twenty-five."

Again the seeker snorted, "I am older than you by several millennia. So to me, you are a child."

The blue flier puffed his armour out in pride, stifling the wince from the action, at his ability to silence the girl. He frowned, however, when she snapped, "So your old _and_ falling apart? That’s not something I'd be bragging about."  

Making a noise of displeasure, Thundercracker snapped, "I'm not old!"

"But you are falling apart." Callie countered, looking at her trailer, "And, you’re leaking pink shit all over the place."

Glancing down, Thundercracker was dismayed to see that the wound in his side had started weeping again, no doubt from when he climbed out of the trailer. Sighing, the flyer muttered, "It's called energon."

"Well you're leaking it everywhere." The blond snapped, her voice getting sharper.

The seeker sighed, scrubbing at his faceplates with his servo, "Your name human, what's your name?"

The thin girl scowled at the seeker, and he thought that she may just tell him off again. Instead she huffed in irritation and said, "Callie McCormick.

"Callie?"

"Yes, Callie. That’s my" she lifted her small hands and curled all but her index and middle fingers into her hands. She then moved the extended fingers to signify quotation marks as she said, "'designation'."

The massive seeker scowled down at the human and quickly rained in his temper. He could do this; he could play the victim in order to get home, "I need your help Callie. I've been badly damaged and I have no way back to base. Where are you heading?" he asked softly. His energy was beginning to deplete and he needed energon desperately.

"How'd you get so hurt?" Called demanded, pulling Lucy behind her again ignoring the little girls protests.

Thundercracker took a deep intake of air; he had to choose what he told the girl carefully. Tell too much and she would figure him out, too little she wouldn't care about his plight, "I was shot down by Autobots." he said eventually. Callie narrowed her blue eyes on him, but she remained silent for him to continue, "They are the cause of our war. You see Callie, we come from a planet far away called Cyberton. The Autobots are lead by a leader by the name of...Sentinel Prime. He and his council want to keep the lower classes and poor down, while the upper classes just got richer. I'm sure you can understand that." He spoke to her as though he were speaking to a child. 

That was truth, the Autobots _had_ been lead by Sentinel Prime, and he _had_ been the main cause of the war that had consumed the planet. It wasn't until Optimus Prime, a slagging dock worker, had taken over the Autobots that they changed their ways.

It had been the current Prime who fought for the rights of all sentient beings, including the Decepticons. In the beginning of his rule, Optimus had been willing to give the Decepticons all the rights they had demanded, the classes would finally be unified, even and free. It had been everything the Decepticons had wanted in the beginning, everything they had been fighting for.

Megatron had declined it all, blinded by greed and plunging his people into a millennia long war. He wanted it all, all the energon and all of Cyberton. He had promised his soldiers that they would get it all if they kept to the path, and that had only landed them on this mud ball. However, Callie didn't need to know that little tidbit of information.

The blond, still staring up at Thundercracker with intense blue eyes finally nodded, "Well, the Decepticons fought back against his oppression. We're freedom fighters Callie, and our war has spilt across the universe. We were forced to leave Cyberton, and came to this planet. Your planet.”

The blond continued to stare at him, her eyes unwavering, so the seeker continued, “I do not wish to be here, this is not my home. The Autobots have chased us here, and we have no other choice but to stand and fight. Our lives depend on it.”

There, Thundercracker had done it. He had spun a little story well, he thought. Well enough to trick the small female in to helping him. Or he had thought until she said, “So what? That’s your side of the story, I bet if I spoke to an Autobot they’d have a very different story to tell.”

Thundercracker blinked at the girl, somewhat taken aback by her response. Lucy looked up at her relative, her blue eyes pleading, “Come on Callie, can we keep him?”

“No. Remember what Danny says about strangers.”

The little girl frowned and looked down, “Don’t trust anybody that’s not in the family.” She said, although it sounded rehearsed to Thundercracker’s audios.

The seeker frowned as he looked at the girls, they seemed a little harder than most humans. The taller blond turned her head back to the seeker, “I’m not going to help you, find someone else to drag you across country and get shot at by Autobots.” 

“Callie wait, you’re the only one here that can help me. There are very few who have a trailer large enough that I can fit my frame into. If you leave me here, I’ll be found by the Autobots and offlined...killed. They are around in this area, and I have a very small chance to escape if you leave me now.”

Callie began to back away, pushing Lucy towards the cab of the truck, “Cry me a river. I don’t care.” She snapped sarcastically.

Stunned, Thundercracker gaped at her. Humans were supposed to be soft and weak, that’s why they got along with the soft sparked Autobots so well. In an act that was pure desperation, the seeker blurted out, “Do you know what Autobots do? What they did. What they are capable of? I grew up in the city of Vos. It was Sentinel Prime that ordered the city razed, and you know what they hit first?”

It must have been the desperation in his tone that caused Callie to stop, “What?”

“They hit the nurseries. Hundreds of seekerlings perished in a matter of seconds. Young ones like, like her.” He canted his helm to Lucy. It had twisted his spark in its casting to think of when Vos fell, that had been the day that had marked him as a Decepticon. 

“My sister.” Callie said calmly, her grip suddenly tighter on the little girl and her gut twisted.

Thundercracker nodded, “The Autobots will kill your sister.” He lied, “But I can stop them. I need to get back to my fraction. Just get me out of this area.”   




Callie pursed her lips as worry and fear assaulted her mind. If she helped the Cybertronion, she could end up dead. Her grip on Lucy tightened at that thought. The small girl tugged at Callie’s coat, drawing her dark blue eyes down, “Come on Callie. Let’s take him home! I mean, Danny can fix him. She can fix anything!”

Thundercracker sighed, suddenly feeling weak. If the humans left him now, he would not have the strength to get home. Forcing himself to remain on line, the proud seeker managed to ask, “Who’s Danny?”

Licking her lips, Callie looked up at the crouching seeker, “She’s my cousin.”

Snorting, Thundercracker asked, “Isn’t Danny a boy’s name?”

Frowning, Callie snapped, “Daniela, her name is Daniela.”

His vision was beginning to double as his energy reserves ran low, “So you live with your cousin?”

Lucy smiled up at the massive seeker, “Yep, and she’s a car the-“

Callie clamped her hand over the girls mouth. “Mechanic. She’s a mechanic. She could probably patch you up until your friends pick you up.” 

Thundercracker managed a crocked smile as a flash of triumph ran through him, “So you’ll take me with you then?”

“I didn’t say that.” Callie said firmly, shoving her sister further behind her.

“Who else do you live with?” Thundercracker asked, knowing he almost had the girl convinced and needing to know how many other humans he may have to kill in order to protect his faction.

Callie shifted nervously before saying “Danny and her little sisters Aleyah, Mia and Lizz.”

Thundercracker snorted as his vision began to go to static. He managed to focus on Callie, “Your aunt was certainly busy.”

Callie snorted this time, an odd noise coming from such a small and delicate looking creature, “My aunts a whore.”

Somewhat surprised by her response, Thundercracker just stared at her, “Th-that’s not what I meant. I wasn’t implying that.”

Callie’s distained turned to mirth for only a moment, “Oh but I did. She’s a ho-bag.”

Thundercracker’s world began to spin and he felt like he would purge what was left in his tanks. So sick he didn’t ask what in the Pit a ‘ho-bag’ was, “Listen Callie, I’m not feeling well. I’m asking you...please help me.” The pleading felt like acid in his throat, but he wanted to survive and he wasn’t above begging for it.

The seeker forced his optics to online to judge her reaction, trying desperately to ignore the spinning of his CPU. Callie was looking down at the ground, guilt filled her eyes as she bit her lower lip. Lucy looked up at the taller blond, “Please Callie, he’s hurt. He needs our help, and daddy would have wanted us to help.”

Bringing her focus back to the large Decepticon, she asked, “What do I get out of this beside a damaged trailer?”

Thundercracker studied the female carefully, wanting to say the right thing. Taking a chance and going with what the little one said, Thundercracker carefully replied, “You’d get to save a life.”

He was hopeful the human would buy that. The human sighed, her thin shoulders dropping as she stared up at him. She glanced at the trailer, then back at him. Callie shook her head and rubbed at the center of her forehead, “I can’t believe that I’m doing this.”

Hope flared in the seeker as his helm felt like it was spinning. Lucy grinned up at her sister, “At least he won’t break the trailer anymore.”

“We’re going to Los Angeles. Your friends can pick you up there.” Callie said, sounding very tired.

Thundercracker managed to contain his excitement and nodded politely. “Thank you Callie.”

The human rolled her eyes with a sigh, “Whatever, just try not to break the trailer anymore please.”

“I will do my best.” Thundercracker promised, fighting off a processor ache.

“We’re almost to the boarder of Nebraska now and we’ll keep driving until we’re in Colorado before we break for camp. I can let you out at night if you want, so you can...stretch I guess.”

Thundercracker nodded. “I would appreciate that.”

Looking worried, Callie nodded to the trailer, signifying to the seeker to climb back in. The blue seeker paused for a moment, actually grateful that the human wasn’t abandoning him in the middle of nowhere. It was an odd feeling that the seeker didn’t like, being grateful made to you weak in the Decepticon army. But Callie didn’t know that and there were no other Decepticons in the area, so trying to get rid of the feeling of being grateful the seeker quietly said, “Thank you Callie.”

He then crawled back into the trailer and allowed the human to lock him in. Making himself as comfortable as possible, Thundercracker easily slipped back into recharge, content with the knowledge that the Autobots would never attack him and risk harming the girls.

()()()

TBC...

 


	4. Drink of Diesel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, Thank you to the awesome Brighter Than The Sun, Sunny who did the beta work on this chapter. Great job as always! :D

**Important Information**

“...” Speaking

:...: comm. link

**_‘....’_** bonded speech

‘...’ thinking

 

**Astrosecond** \- 2.5 earth Seconds

**Klik** \- 150 earth seconds/ 2.5 earth Minutes

**Orn** \- 150 earth minutes/ 2.5 earth Hours

**Joor** \- 60 earth hours/2.5 earth Days

**Metacycle** \- 17.5 earth days/2.5 earth Weeks

**Vorn** \- 10 earth weeks/2.5 earth months

**Stellercycle** -30 earth months/2.5 years

**Breem** -slang for a moment/minute.

**Night Cycle** : star down to star up

**Day Cycle** : Star up to star down

**Disclaimer** : I own only my OC’s, nothing else. Also, I do not own the Song ‘I love you like a love song’. That belongs to Selena Gomez.  
()()()

Callie stared at the dark grey road with disinterest, her thoughts currently on the damaged alien that she was transporting across the states. ‘I wonder if this counts as transporting illegal aliens?’ she wondered.

Pulling the visor down to block out the sun, Callie let her thoughts return to Thundercracker and the sheer amount of damage done to his body. What was she going to do if he died on route? He had been bleeding out a lot of energon, and the twenty-five year old didn’t know if Cybertronions could bleed to death. Did they even call it bleeding to death? What would his friends do if he died in her care? Would they just kill her and Lucy in a fit of rage, or thank them for trying to help?

The farm girl didn't know, and she hated not knowing. The lack of knowledge and unforeseen surprises is what had nearly gotten her and her family killed more than once, and it was not something she wanted to repeat.

"Hey Callie?" Lucy's small voice called out from besides her, pulling the older blond from her thoughts.

Making a soft noise in the back of her throat to indicate that she was listening to her sister, Lucy went on, "Thundercracker is really big."

"Yeah, what of it?"

The girl sighed, aggravated that her sister didn't catch on right away, "Our trailer is not that big in comparison."

"Again, so?" The older girl asked, ignoring the feeling of her stomach dropping and twisting.

"Well, shouldn’t we do something to make him more comfortable?"

Callie shot her baby sister a dark look before returning her gaze to the road, "He made his choice to hide in our trailer, we didn't make him do it."

Lucy frowned at her sister and in a quiet voice said, "It's not his fault he got shot down by bad guys." 

Throwing another glance at Lucy, Callie frowned. She didn't like the sad look on the little girls face and she certainly didn’t like the way her stomach twisted when she thought of Thundercracker’s already damaged body crammed into the trailer. She wouldn't feel guilty for that, he had done it himself. She wouldn’t feel bad for him, lost and alone, away in a strange place with strange people.

She wouldn’t! 

The blond scowled at the dark grey road and the bright orange sun. Danny wouldn't have felt bad for the Cybertronion and probably would have mocked Callie for being a sap...then her cousin would have done something to ease the alien’s pain. An argument would have sprung from that, one where Callie would mock her cousin for her own weakness and Danny defending her actions, saying it was because she wanted to. 

The blond shifted her jaw, her cousin wasn't with her, and Callie knew better than to dwell on something that wasn’t there. Thundercracker however was with them and he was packed tightly into a horse trailer that barley fit his large body.     

Breaking down, Callie sighed and cursed to herself. Glancing at her sister, she said, "Get my phone, and find out where the nearest Canadian Tire is."

The little girl sighed and dug through her sister purse, "Callie, we're in the states remember? There is not a Crappy Tire here." 

Frowning, Callie muttered, "Right. Alright then look up Home Depot or a hard ware store of some sort." 

Lucy nodded, her tiny fingers flying across the small screen of the I-phone. Eventually the girl looked up saying, "There’s a local hard ware store in the next town. I have directions here, and it should only take us about half an hour to get there. It's the closest thing I can find." 

Scowling to herself and Callie was annoyed that she was doing this, "Alright. We'll take a short break there." 

()()()

Thundercracker slowly came out of recharge not long after their journey began, and knew that something was wrong. The trailer had slowed down substantially and they made constant pauses. Tilting his helm to get a better look out the tiny window, the seeker could see that Callie had taken them into a town. Panic flew through him then, he was sure the girl had said they would be driving until they made it out of Nebraska. They hadn't been on the road long enough to be that far yet, so what were they doing? 

Another wave of exhaustion hit the seeker and his systems demand that he power down to recharge. He fought against those commands, desperate to know where they were taking him. Eventually the truck pulled up to a small, square building and Callie cut the engine. He heard the girls jump out of the truck and slam their door closed, and distantly thought that any ground pounder would have winced at how hard they closed their doors. 

Watching them curiously, Thundercracker was worried why they would be in a hardware store and he wondered who this 'Jim' was who owned the store. Did the girls know this 'Jim' from Jim's hardware? Would they sell him out here? Contact their government and hand him over to be an experiment until he died from energon loss? A very real fear coursed through his spark at that thought and he hoped that it didn’t bleed through to Skywarp. 

By the time Callie and Lucy came out of the store, Thundercracker had worked himself into such a state of panic that his intakes heaved and his frame shook, rattling the trailer. As Lucy skipped to the passenger side of the truck, Callie paused and cocked her head to the side as thought listening for something. She frowned as she opened the driver side door and tossed the bag of purchases across the bench seat. 

Leaving the door open the human walked to the open window to stand beneath it. Thundercracker could actually smell her through the metal of his transport and could hear her heart beat, slow and steady. It calmed him for a reason he couldn’t deduce and blamed it on his damaged helm. 

"Thundercracker," Her hesitant voice came from outside, "Are you all right?" 

Swallowing hard, the seeker responded, "I'm fine." It amazed him that his voice didn’t shake. 

Getting a grip on his nerves, Thundercracker released the breath he didn’t know he was holding. He didn’t need to breath necessarily, but it was habit to send more oxygen to his earth formed engine as it helped the performance. He calmed himself as best he could and when the shaking stopped Callie left. He heard her small steps to the front of the cab and heard her slam her door. 

The truck stared again and he felt the vehicle begin to back up, and with practised ease pulled forward. Callie easily manoeuvred the large truck and trailer through the streets of the small town and back to the highway where they picked up speed once again. The seeker was nervous; his processor going over again and again what could the humans need in a hardware store. The flier snorted at himself, he was being ridiculous he thought. They were humans, small and puny compared to him. 

However, they did have the advantage of being unharmed and him on the verge of offlining. Another spike of fear shot through the usually fearless seeker as the truck began to slow and Callie pulled to the side of the road. He swallowed his fear and steadied his servos, ready to attack should the girls decide to do something to harm him any further. The trailer doors swung open and Callie stepped up onto the ledge, a plastic bag hung from her wrist and she held a flash light in her other hand. 

The seeker scowled at her, hoping she couldn’t sense his discomfort, but she seemed to be as uneasy as him.

 "I, um… I bought some stuff for you." She looked down at the bag uncertainly than back up to Thundercracker, "I'm not nearly as good at fixing things as Danny, but I have some clamps that should hold. Um...if your veins are still open I can at least try to close them so you don’t lose any more energon." 

The human stumbled over the foreign words, but Thundercracker got the gist of it, "We have lines, not veins." 

Callie dropped her eyes and chewed on her lower lip, "Right." 

Relaxing only marginally, the seeker mumbled, "The energon will burn your skin. It runs hot, kind of like oil in an earth engine. Do you have something that you can cover your skin?" 

"I've got some leather gloves." She answered quickly, looking up. 

The seeker nodded, "That should work." 

Nodding again, Callie grabbed onto the side of the trailer and leaned back to look around the side, "Lucy, grab my gloves." she paused for a moment and yelled out "And a screwdriver."  

Swinging back around the blond set the bag of stuff on the floor of the trailer. Crouching down to dig through it, she pulled out the steel clamps. 

"The energon will probably blister them and weaken them. They’ll break eventually. Do you have more?" The seeker asked, trying to ignore his unease. 

Callie shook her head no, "I don't but there not expensive. We can always get more." the blond paused and looked at the items with in the bag, "I've also got a length of chain and some orange caution ribbon."  

The seeker raised a steel brow at what she had purchased, giving her an odd look. Callie saw his look and rolled her blue eyes, "Get your head out of the gutter! I figured you'd be more comfortable with your legs stretched out. If you’re going to stick your feet out the door, I'll chain the doors closed above your ankles so they're not flapping in the wind!"   

Still giving the girl a disbelieving look, the seeker muttered 'Mhmm."    

"I'm telling the truth." She said firmly, her pitch going higher near the end of her sentence.

Black lip plates twitched slightly in amusement, "What’s with the ribbon?"

He wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw her eye twitch. "It's law that if you are going to have something extend past the end of your trailer, you have to tie an orange ribbon or something to it so that other drives can see it better." 

He blinked at her, "You can't be serious." 

Lucy appeared at the end of the trailer, handing the gloves and the screwdriver up to Callie. The taller blond took the objects from the smaller girl. She pulled the gloves on and grabbed the flashlight, along with several clamps. She then shoved the screwdriver into her back pocket, and slowly stood, "Can you stretch out your legs, I can climb over to your stomach and have a look." 

Moving slowly, Thundercracker stretched out as Callie crawled into the trailer. His frame stiffened as she touched him, climbing over his legs to his stomach. She moved slowly, working her way up his frame, not wanting him to jerk away. When she reached his abdomen, she kneeled on his warm thigh and looked up, "I am serious."

She popped the end of the flashlight into her mouth so that she could use both her hands as she examined his wound. Thundercracker snorted, "You’re telling me that your species can't see something sticking out further then the end of a trailer or truck?"

Callie pulled the flashlight from her mouth, eyes sill looking into the wound, "Can't help that people are dumb." she shrugged.

She put the flashlight back into her mouth and picked up a clamp. Moving carefully Callie reached into the wound and grabbed a damaged line and slipped the clamp around an undamaged end. Thundercracker stiffened, sucking in air through his intakes in pain. Glancing up at the large seeker, the girl managed to say "Thawry." around the flashlight. 

Reaching behind her, Callie pulled the screwdriver from her pocket and used it to tighten the clamp as tight as she could. Pain assaulted the seeker and he curled his servos into tight fists, trying not to move. His vision began to white out from the burning as Callie reached in again and put another clamp around another damaged line. His armour began to shake as he trembled from the pain, unable to stop as Callie reached in and clamped a third line. 

He vaguely heard Lucy ask if she could come in too, and Callie’s sharp response to stay outside. A fourth clamp was added and Thundercracker barley managed to swallow the moan of pain. He thought he heard Callie's soft voice through his haze, trying to comfort him. The seeker instead focused on his bond with Skywarp and shut it down as hard as he could, it wouldn’t do if his little mate suddenly fell to the ground screaming because of some deep, internal pain.   Eventually the pain stopped and Thundercracker brought his optics back online. His intakes were heaving with effort and he realised he must have blacked out at some point, but he couldn’t remember when. Callie was still on his thigh, her undamaged hand now gloveless and rubbing at his armour.   

Lucy was standing on the edge of the trailer, her small hands resting on his massive ankle. He tried not to move too much in fear that he would crush the girl.

“Are you okay?” Callie’s voice drew Thundercracker back to the taller blond.

Offlining his one good optic, the seeker took several deep intakes of air and didn’t online them again until his armour stopped shaking. “Did you get all the leaks?”

Standing, Callie turned the flashlight deeper into the large wound. She leaned against an undamaged plate in the seekers side and looked a little deeper into the wound, searching for more broken lines, “Everything is covered with energon. But from what I can see, I got all the leaks.” The blond paused and looked up at him, “Sorry, I...I don’t mean to talk about you like your just a machine.”

Thundercracker shrugged, gently placing a dark servo over the damage, “If’s fine. How many clamps did you use?”

“Ten.” Callie answered, her face pinched with worry.

The damaged F-15 nodded, “We’ll keep an eye on them, make sure the energon doesn’t blister the metal and weaken it.”

Callie hesitated before saying, “I can do it, I know where I placed them all.”

The seeker nodded, offlining his optic and settled to recharge. The small human still hadn’t moved from his thigh, her hand still sliding over his warm armour.

“Hey Thundercracker, do you need to eat or something?  I mean, your bleeding a lot. Do you need to keep your energy up?”  Callie asked, her voice hesitant.

It disturbed the seeker how close to the truth the human had been, he was worried about falling into stasis lock or maybe deactivating. He needed energon, and the more he lost, the more he needed to replenish, “I need energon.”

“Can we get that?”

“No.”       

Callie frowned, looking down, “What about a substitute? Like gasoline or diesel?”

Neither would be compatible with his systems he knew, but given the situation Thundercracker really didn’t have a choice. He needed energy, fuel if he wanted to live and he oh so wanted to live. But the kick back from drinking earths crude fuel? His body could use the fuel, stripping it of its nutrients, but oh it was going to hurt like the Pit.

“Diesel.” He answered eventually, knowing that because of his engine type he really should use some sort of jet fuel, and that the diesel would clog his engine. But it was better than nothing; he would just have to have a full flush done when he got back to the Nemesis.

Callie nodded, “Can you wait until we break for camp?”

The seeker nodded, his recharge protocols already dragging him down, “I’ll be fine.” He muttered.

He could distantly feel Callie climb from his leg and slowly made her way to the doors of the trailer. In a hushed voice, Callie told Lucy to get down before jumping down herself. Her soft voice called to the seeker, “Thundercracker, can you cross your ankles?”

The seeker made a noise of displeasure but did as he was asked. He could feel the girls close the trailer doors so that they rested against the armour of his legs. Callie chained the doors together so they wouldn’t fly open as they drove. Pulling a length of the orange ribbon from its spool, she tied it around the tip of Thundercracker’s pede.

Satisfied with how it was done, Callie nodded. She tossed the damaged leather gloves to the ground; she wouldn’t be able to use them again. The energon had been so hot it had blistered the leather very quickly.

Steadying herself, Callie heading for the cab of the truck, taking Lucy by the hand and dragging the girl with her. She couldn’t believe what she had just done; she stuck her hands into the wound of an alien and clamped leaking lines. Her heart pounded hard in her chest as adrenalin filled her veins. Her hands began to shake as realization set in and her stomach twisted in worry. It felt surreal and for a moment Callie thought she would wake from a bizarre dream. 

But Lucy’s hand squeezing hers hard brought Callie back to reality. Looking down at the little girl, Callie offered a shaky smile. Lucy didn’t return the smile as she looked up at her sister, “He’s a lot more hurt than we thought, isn’t he?”  

Taking a shaky breath, Callie answered “Yeah.”

“Do you think Danny can fix him?”

Callie shrugged, she didn’t think her cousin could fix this. The damage was extensive and his systems were sensitive. The farm girl had never seen anything like it, nothing so sophisticated. That wasn’t surprising though, considering he was an alien robot. But Callie didn’t want to upset Lucy, “Of course Danny can fix him. She can MacGyver anything.”

Lucy frowned, looking down. The girl wasn’t sure if her older cousin _could_ fix that damage, but she didn’t want to break the delicate lie her sister was trying to weave. Maybe she was trying to convince herself. Instead Lucy said, “What are you going to do if someone asks us what’s sticking out from the trailer?”

As they reached the passenger side of the truck Callie managed a half smile, “We’ll tell them that he’s a prop for a movie.”

Lucy nodded as Callie opened the door and allowed the girl to climb in. Shutting the door, Callie walked around the truck to the driver side, hoping that the alien would make it to camp.

()()()

The sun was dipping low in the Colorado sky when Callie decided it was time to break for camp. She was far too tried to drive any further and too worried about Thundercracker to want to keep going. She had purchased two large jerry cans and filled them both with diesel as the Decepticon had asked her to several hours ago, and she didn't want to prolong his waiting to eat any longer.

The girls made camp on the side of the road that was now I-76, and small signs that read that a town called Sterling was nearby. Normally the blond would have taken an off ramp to Sterling and gotten a motel for the night, but now she had Thundercracker to consider. He wouldn't be able to sleep in the trailer all day and night, so Callie decided that she and Lucy could sleep in the truck for a few nights. It was only a twenty-one hour drive back to L.A, and Callie knew she could do it in three days if she really wanted to. Two if she sped the whole way home. But with Thundercracker, she knew it would take much longer as she would have to break for his sake.

Pulling to a spot in the road that was flat, Callie stopped the truck and put the massive beast into park. She patted the consol of the truck and easily hopped out at the same time as Lucy did. The little girl made a beeline for the trailer, eager to let Thundercracker out. 

Callie could hear her sister giggling as she undid the lock and pull the chain from where it was looped through the bars that normally kept the doors closed. As Lucy did this, Callie stepped onto the back tire of the truck and pulled herself up to stand on the wheel. She reached into the box where she had put the jerry cans and heaved them out as Thundercracker uncurled himself from the trailer, the large seeker looking tired and worn out. 

He stumbled as he walked around the trailer, catching himself with the roof of the trailer. Everyone winced when they heard the awful noise of metal giving under his massive servo as the roof caved in slightly. Callie, still standing on the tire, looked up at the roof with her jaw dropped in shock. 

Thundercracker stared with his one good optic at his servo that was now imbedded into the soft metal. Sighing, he carefully pulled his servo away and winced when he saw the perfect indentation within the metal. 

Callie sighed, "How bad is it?" 

Weakly shuffling away from the end of the trailer, Thundercracker sat with his damaged back against the trailer. He was very careful not to lean back too far and tip the whole thing over, "You'd better not look." 

Callie sighed and rubbed at her forehead, "Could you please reframe from damaging my trailer anymore."

Rolling his optic, the massive seeker grumbled in irritation, "It's not like I did that on purpose."

"Yes, but every time you damage my trailer, the less its worth." She snapped back, her own aggravation rising as she dropped from the back tire and pulled the jerry cans from the side of the box. She dropped the jerry cans ungracefully to the ground, then stood to glower at the seeker with her hands perched on her hips. 

Lucy came skipping around the truck, a brown bag in her hand. She placed the bag on the side of the box of the truck and pulled herself up so that she sat with her legs dangling over the side. Opening the bag she pulled out a circular, foil covered thing that smelt like burnt meat, oblivious to the tension between her sister and the Decepticon. 

The little girl broke the tension when she looked up at Thundercracker with large blue eyes, and said "What are you Thundercracker?" 

He drew his optic away from Callie's angry face to Lucy's happy one, "Come again?" 

"Well you said that you’re from Cyberton and that you are a Decepticon. Which I'm guessing is like a team. But what are you? Like, are there others like you?" She began to unwrap her meal and the seeker drew away with a look of disgust as the smell assaulted his senses. 

"What in the pit is that?" 

“It’s a hamburger I got from the gas station.” She answered smiling up at him.

“What is a hamburger?” He asked, stumbling a little over the human word.

“A cow.” She said as she took a huge bite from the burger, making Thundercracker withdraw further away from the girl with a look of disgust on his faceplates.

“You’re eating a cow? Those four legged creatures that graze and drop brown patties from their afts?” Thundercracker said, pure disgust on his faceplates and his tanks churned with revulsion.

“It’s delicious!” the little girl said as her sister pulled her own meal from the brown bag. Callie leaned against the truck and pulled the foil from her own burger.

The seeker looked horrified when the older blond took a large bite, red ketchup dripping down her chin. His tanks rolled unhappily and Thundercracker began to wondering if his damages were in part the reason for his nausea. He offlined his optic and pressed the inside of his wrist to his olfactory senses, trying to block the smell.

Wiping the ketchup from her chin, Callie looked up at the damaged Decepticon, “You okay Thundercracker?”

The seeker managed to shake his helm no, never having been affected so strongly by human substances before. Callie saw the look of discomfort on the seekers face, “Come on Lucy, let’s go eat on the hood.”

Lucy managed a frown at her sister, her mouth shoved full of food, “No, come on. Our food is making Thundercracker sick.” Callie answered the unasked question.

Shooting the usually proud seeker a glance, she too saw the look of misery on his faceplates. Swallowing her food, Lucy looked back to Callie, “Okay.”

She jumped from the side of the truck and followed her sister to the front of the truck, “Shouldn’t we sit on the tail gate?”

“It’s too close to Thundercracker, we don’t want to make him anymore sick.” Callie explained as she leaned a hip against the front of the truck. Lucy jumped up onto the hood, making Callie wince when the metal bowed at the girl’s weight.

The seeker had never been so grateful in his entire existence. He took deep, long drags of air, trying desperately to get the smell of cooked meat from his senses. When his tanks stopped their rolling, he onlined his optic and spotted the small red plastic cans that held the diesel he was suppose to drink later and the thought made his tank heave again.

“Put your head between your knees.” Callie called out.

The seeker shot her a nasty look, but when he saw Callie was concerned and not trying to mock, Thundercracker went for it. He lifted his knees up and pressed his helm between them, squeezing his helm tight. It did nothing for his churning tanks and he didn’t understand why she had even suggested it.

“Better?”

“No.” He moaned, keeping his arms at his side, “What is this even suppose to do?”

“Stop your head from spinning.” Callie said hopefully as she finished the last of her burger.

The seeker sighed, “My helm does not feel like its spinning.”

Callie frowned, pity settling in her chest. She didn’t like the feeling there, and she was annoyed at herself for feeling it. She was usually stronger than this.

The sound of metal bending and popping pulled Callie from her thoughts and she looked up in time to see that Lucy and run up the hood of the truck and was currently jumping off the roof to land in the box.

“Lucy!” Callie scowled as the little girl managed to jump over the tail gate to walk along the trailer hitch like a balance beam and climb up the side of the trailer to pull her body up to the roof.  Once the girl was standing on the top, she looked at the indentation of Thundercracker’s servo and laughed, “Oh Callie, you’re going to be sooo mad when you see this.”

Callie shot to the side of the trailer and managed to scale the fibre glass siding. Her hands slipped several times, gashing her left one open and it left Callie wondering how Lucy had managed to get up so easily. She ended up chalking it up to the fact that she was a kid and climbing was just something they were still good at. 

Trying to ignore the damage done to her trailer and the shallow gash in her hand, Callie carefully walked along the edge of the trailer. 

Lucy was sitting thankful quiet next to Thundercracker’s shoulder. Her dark blue eyes were watching, focused on him as if she were afraid that he would suddenly disappear. As Callie came to sit beside her sister, Lucy shifted even closer to Thundercracker and lifted her tiny hand and lay it on his warm upper arm. 

The seeker tilted his helm away from his knees when he felt the weak pressure from the girls hand and stared at her with a pained look. Her small hand began to rub in tiny circles on his arm as she softly started saying "It's okay TC, you'll feel better soon." 

His spark twisted painful when Lucy called him 'TC'. It was what Skywarp always called him when he was feeling affectionate, and it just hammered home the point that he was many miles away from his mate and stuck in the middle of nowhere with these two pathetic creatures.

His second reaction to the girls' actions was surprise; he had lived a very long time, had fought in many battles and been hurt many times. Never in his entire existence had anyone outside of his trine tried to comfort him, and even within the trine it was often _him_ that was comforting Skywarp and keeping Starscream sane. Thundercracker wasn't sure how to deal with the tiny girl rubbing his armour, trying to sooth his hurt. 

Callie sat beside Lucy with an arm wrapped tightly around the nine year old, keeping her balanced on the roof. Her other hand was pressed tightly into her jeans in an attempt to stop the bleeding from the shallow wound and she was looking at Thundercracker with a look that the seeker couldn't decipher. It was non-threatening, that’s about all he could guess. The seeker moved his helm back to his knees, allowing Lucy to continue her gentle rubbing as he waited out his churning tanks. 

 It took a while, but his tanks did eventually settle enough for him to lift his helm to look at the girls, "You can stop now Lucy." the seeker grumbled. 

Dropping her hand back into her lap, Lucy blinked at Thundercracker, "Are you feeling better?" 

His tank did another funny dance and he almost said no. Instead he lied, "Yes, I'm fine." 

"Good!" Lucy said as she drew herself up taller, "So what are you TC?" she asked as her small legs began to swing. 

The Decepticon sighed, "I'm a seeker." 

Smiling in delight and bouncing on the spot, making Callie tighten her hold on the little girl, Lucy squealed, "What do seekers do?" 

"They," he paused then, trying to find the correct words that wouldn't scare his ride away, "we are a warrior class that protects sparkling." That was the original purpose for the seekers, but there hadn't been sparklings successfully born since the beginning of the war. Even his core programming hadn't been active since Vos fell, and all the seekerlings died. No seeker saw other species young as sparklings so the programming never reactivated. 

It was Callie's next question that brought Thundercracker back to the conversation, "What's a sparkling?" 

Venting air, Thundercracker gave her a shrewd look, tamping down on his nausea, "They are our version of...babies. I guess." 

The mention of the tiny humanoid creatures that human adult produced, Lucy's face light up even more, "You protect babies! Oh my gosh, I bet baby seekers are adorable!" 

His massive shoulders drooped when he looked at the little girl’s excitement. It was slightly degrading to hear ones powerful, noble class called 'adorable', even if they were just sparklings, "Seekerlings. Baby seekers are called seekerlings."

"Seekerlings." Lucy repeated, trying the new word out.

"Very good." Thundercracker praised, than mentally berated himself for doing so.

"How do you say it in your language?" Lucy asked her eyes bright with excitement.

Thundercracker sighed and looked away, torn between annoyance and amusement at the girls excitement. It reminded him of Skywarp in a way, and it was because of that, that he said the word in his native tongue.

Lucy blinked at him, all excitement gone from her face. She scrunched up her face in concentration and after several good attempts, Lucy finally came out with something that _sounded_ like seekerling, but meant something very different. It caused the seeker to move his faceplates away from the girls so they wouldn't see him trying to contain his mirth. When he managed to get control over himself, her turned back to them, and Lucy looking extremely proud of herself, "Did I say it right?"

"Um, no. I don't think human vocal cords are meant to speak Cybertronion."

"Was I close?"

The seeker paused for a moment, his red optic glancing to Callie then back to Lucy, "Cybertronion is a very difficult langue to speak. Every glyph and sound has a slightly different meaning. You basically just called me an incompetent berthmate."

Lucy looked up confused, not quite understanding. Callie however may not have known what a berth was, but got the gist of what Lucy had just said to the seeker. She tried to hide her smile by pressing her lips tightly together, but failed, "Really?"

Fearing he might crack if he saw Callie's grin get any bigger, Thundercracker looked away, "Closest translation."

Biting her lip hard now, Callie managed a 'mmm' and looked in the opposite direction of Thundercracker. Lucy looked between Callie and Thundercracker and huffed, not liking being left out of the loop, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing." The seeker and human said at once, still not looking at each other.

Lucy frowned, "What’s a berth?"

"A Cybertronion bed." Thundercracker answered, not sure if she could connect the dots. He knew she could when Lucy suddenly went, "Ewww, I did _not_ need to know that."

Callie snorted and a smirk made it past Thundercracker’s hard mask. Lucy shook her head, blond curls tumbling around her face. A peaceful silence settled between the trio, and for the first time Thundercracker thought that he could keep his sanity throughout this whole ordeal.

Then Lucy, who was easily entertained, began singing, "I love you like a love song baby, I love you like a love song baby, I love you like a love song baby, and I keep hittin' re-peat-peat-peat-peat-peat."

Thundercracker twitched somewhat as he turned his helm to give the small girl a disbelieving look the same time Callie sighed in annoyance, "What in the Pit are you singing girl?"

She frowned and looked up at the Decepticon, "It's a song called 'I love you like a love song' by Selena Gomez."

The massive seeker just frowned at the girl, "Wait. It's a real song. You didn’t make it up?"

"Nope! Selena Gomez did. It's really good."

"And the song goes 'I love you like a love song'?" Thundercracker said his faceplates open with disbelief.

"And I keep hittin' re-peat-peat-peat-peat-peat." Lucy sang and grinned up at Thundercracker, "That's just the chorus! There are two whole verses."

"There's more to it?" The seeker asked, sounding more horrified now.

"Yep! But the chorus is the best part. re-peat-peat-peat-peat-peat!" She sang the last part out quiet badly.

Thundercracker just stared at her for a moment, blinking with his one good optic, "Cybertronions may not have had the most interesting music, but compared to that, it’s brilliant."

Callie laughed at that, while Lucy's smile faded into a frown, "Na-uh."

"Yes, yes it is. That is the most...there isn't even a word in existence to describe how terrible that song is." 

Callie decided that was a good time to through in her own two cents, "I believe that term you’re looking for is 'faux shizzle'."

The term sounded like something that Jazz would have used, although the seeker wasn’t sure what it even meant. Callie, seeing his confusion, filled in the blanks, “It’s basically means fake shit.”

Thundercracker nodded, but Lucy puffed up like a cat in annoyance, “The song is _not_ faux shizzle!”

"Is too." Callie said with a grin.

"Na-uh."

"Ah-huh."

"No!"

"Who wrote that song?" Callie countered.

"She co-wrote it!" Lucy snapped back, not paying attention to the dumbfounded seeker, or the look of mirth on Callie's face.

"So its fauz shizzle?" Callie said, grinning like the cat who got the canary, "After all she didn't write it herself."

"Just because she had help doesn't mean it's faux shizzle." Lucy shot back.

Callie snorted, “I suppose Selena Gomez is nowhere near as bad as say, Justin Bieber.”

Seeing the look of mirth on Callie’s face, Thundercracker knew that that statement was loaded. The look of irritation and seeing Lucy’s face go red, the seeker knew that he had just been set up. The conversation from that point had just gone downhill as the girl tried desperately to explain why this Justin Bieber was amazing.

It was dark by the time Callie declared that it was time for bed, and the seeker couldn’t have been happier. Thundercracker was sure that Lucy could out talk Bluestreak as long as it was about her awful music.    

The two humans carefully climbed down the side of the trailer, making sure that they didn’t fall; Thundercracker didn’t bother to help the girls down. After all, they got up there, they could get down. The seeker wasn’t doing them any favour by helping them and making their lives easier. Not that what was happening was easy.

Lucy tilted her head up and smiled up at the seeker. “Good night Thundercracker.” With that Callie nodded to the seeker and ushered her sister to the truck, and the pair climbed inside. The Decepticon waited to make sure that neither girl came back out before he carefully reached over and picked up one of the red cans.

He tore the small black cap off and smelt the diesel. He drew back from the stench of it and it made his tanks churn again. Turning off his olfactory senses so he wouldn’t have to smell the fluid, Thundercracker tilted his helm back and drank the diesel in one go; the fluid was thin and gritty with an awful taste. It was cold and slid into his tanks heavily, mixing with what little energon he had left in his reserves. It felt like oil and water swirling in his tanks, but, needing to keep his energy up, Thundercracker took the second plastic can and ripped the lid off too.

Before he could lose his nerve, he tilted his helm back and drank the second can of diesel as quickly as he could. He had the foul fuel downed in two swift draughts. It left a bitter taste in his mouth and his tanks rolled unhappily. Twice he felt like he would purge, and came very close to doing so, but Thundercracker managed to force it back down. His weakened systems desperately needed the energy and he couldn't afford to allow even a single drop to be wasted. 

It didn't take his systems long to pull the diesel further into his frame and the back lash hit quickly; it started with his frame trembling and a pain spread throughout his abdomen. His tanks constricted and the need to purge grew. The wound in his side burned as the diesel made its way there, his body using its limited nurturance’s to create energy that he would use to begin the process of repairing the damaged lines. 

He managed to stay quiet as long as he could, but a particular nasty bolt of pain shot through his frame that caused Thundercracker to groan, and once the proverbial flood gates opened, he couldn’t stop crying out.

The seeker managed to ease his heated body to the ground and lay on his wingless side and wrapped his arms around his abdomen. He pulled his knees up to his chest, feeling safer to lay in the fetal position that sitting up. Another wrack of pain caused Thundercracker to moan and curl in tighter to himself as his optics involuntarily stung with tears.

His frame shook harder causing his armour to rattle and an unwanted sob broke from his chest as another wave of pain hit him. The nausea came next, making his CPU feel as though it was spinning and unsettling his equilibrium chips making hi m feel like he was spiralling down.

Tears of pink lubricant slid down his broken cheek plates as another broken sob spilled out, he tried to stop the second sob from occurring, instead it came out kind of strangled moan. As Thundercracker laid in his broken, nauseated misery, he desperately wished that Skywarp was with him. Pit, he even wished Starscream was with him, his trine would have laid next to him and stroked his wing to get him thought the pain.

His emotional barrier already weakened because of him feeling so sick, Thundercracker sobbed with loss. He would have given anything to have his trine with him, have anyone who wasn't going to mock him by his side. It was a weak thought, he knew, but at that moment he didn't care. He just hurt too much to really be bothered with being strong. 

Callie was just drifting off to sleep, in that hazy place between true sleep and being awake, when she heard a soft sob from outside. The noise jerked her back to the real world and she shifted uncomfortably in the driver’s side of the truck. Lucy was curled up in the bench seat in the back, completely passed out and already deeply asleep. Her arms holding tightly onto the small knitted doll their mother had made before she had passed away.

Rubbing the last little bit of sleep from her eyes, Callie sat up and groped for the door handle. When she found it she pulled hard on the latch to open the door, and winced as she shoved the heavy door open. She always scolded Lucy for reefing on the handles in fear she would one day snap one off. 

He exhaled sharply as his frame shuttered and twitched, and the seeker tried to suppress another sob, failing.

The blond just stood there, watching the seeker convulse and weep. It had been the most emotion she had seen from Thundercracker that wasn't annoyance or amusement. Sympathy twisted in her chest as she watched him writhe in the dirt and a feeling of helplessness settled in her stomach. Biting her lower lip with worry, Callie didn't know what to do; how does one comfort a Cybertronion?

Another cry of pain brought Callie’s blue eyes back to Thundercracker. Sucking in a deep breath of air, the small human slowly walked to the sobbing Cybertronion. Coming to stand by his massive head, Callie took another deep breath and pressed her small hands to his heated armour. It was almost painfully hot, but the human kept her hands where they were.

Not noticing that she was touching him, Thundercracker continued to weep into his chest until Callie cleared her throat, “Thundercracker, what’s wrong?”

The seeker jerked when he heard her speak and his black helm shot up in a panic. Startled, Callie moved back a few steps and put her hands up in surrender while Thundercracker started at her in shock while pink tears rolled down his checks.

Callie licked her lips and slowly took another step towards the seeker. She paused for a moment when he suddenly cried out in pain, his voice going staticie with his wordless cry. He dropped his massive helm to the dirt, panting and whimpering.

Gathering her fading courage, Callie took the last few steps back to stand beside Thundercracker’s cheek. Hesitantly, she lifted her hands and placed them on his light grey cheek, surprised that his energon tears were like ice against her skin.

“Are you...are you alright Thundercracker?” Callie asked, feeling dumb at the question as her voice shook a little.

He managed to shake his helm no, unable to vocalise his thoughts as another bolt of pain hit him. Biting at her lip in worry, Callie began to rub tiny circles in the soft metal on the seekers high cheek structure, “Is it your side?”

Again, the seeker shook his helm no. Callie paused, thinking what could cause this reaction in the seeker. She could only come up with a single thought, “Was it the diesel?” 

A strangled gasp made its way past his lip plates as another shot of pain ran through him and Thundercracker rubbed at his wing. He managed to nod to Callie as his body quivered. Frowning, Callie softly asked, “Then why the hell did you tell me to get you some if it would make you this sick!”

Her sharp tone reminded Thundercracker of Starscream, and in his dazed mind it comforted him. The blue seeker managed to tremble out, “N-n-need-ed enerrrrgy.” His voice was thick with static, making it difficult to understand the seeker but Callie got what he was trying to say.

Her anger dissipated and she continued to make her small circles on the seeker’s check, using her forearm to attempt to mop up his tears as best she could, “It’s okay Thundercracker. It’s going to be okay. We’ll get to L.A and get a hold of your friends. Somehow.”

Another bout of pain wracked the seeker’s battered frame causing Thundercracker to whimper and he hated himself that he allowed himself to appear so weak in the presence of the human. However he never took his optic from the human and he didn’t push her away. Instead he lay his large arm around her and his helm so she couldn’t leave even if she wanted to. Callie didn’t seem to mind as she continued to gently massage his cheek, gently speaking to him in a comforting tone.

It wasn’t for many hours did the pain finally subside in Thundercracker’s frame and the seeker was able to slip into an uneasy recharge. Callie lay curled against his cheek, feeling at ease with his massive arm curled around her small body, trusting him that he wouldn’t accidently crush her in sleep. Her small hands gript at his scarred face as she fell asleep and, for at least a night, the pair felt secure in each other’s company.

()()()          

Many miles and hours behind the Decepticon and the human, a dark green military jeep skidded to a sudden stop. Its companions, a pair of Lamborghinis, came to a hard stop behind the jeep.

The three Autobots transformed, the two frontliners standing tall behind the tracker. Hound, keeping his head lights on, crouched low to exam what he had found. From behind him, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe looked over his shoulder.

“What did you find Hound?” The golden frontliner asked coldly, no longer wanting to be out in the middle of nowhere.

Carefully picking up what he found, his head lights eliminating the objet so the twins could see it better, “A pair of gloves. Their covered in energon.”

Both twins frowned and shared a quick glance. Sideswipe reached up to scratch at the back of his obsidian helm, “Why would they be covered in energon?” the crimson twin paused as the three Autobots pondered the question, “Do you think that Thundercracker is having the human do his repairs?”

“I don’t know ‘Sides. But these gloves have been blistered badly, so they’ve defiantly come in contact with hot energon.”   Hound said with a frown, looking at what was left of the black leather with confusion.

“Can you track where they’ve gone?” Sunstreaker asked, his voice never changing from his cold tone.

The jeep frowned and then sighed, “Well, maybe.” The younger twin growled at his uncertainty, but the good natured Hound just ignored him and continued, “We’ve been following tiny drops of energon since the farm. Most are long distances apart so it’s likely it’s dripping slowly from the trailer that Thundercracker is taking refuge in, so he likely has no idea he’s leaving us a trail. But if the human or humans he’s with closed his wounds, our trail may disappear eventually.”

Sunstreaker snarled in irritation, “But that’s not the worst of it.” Hound said, despite the golden Lamborghini’s irritation, “Unless we continue to get some sort of trail, more energon, a scent or even a spark reading, we might lose them. I-80 becomes I-76 when it goes into Colorado. But I-80 continues onward into Wyoming.”

Concern flittered across the crimson mech’s faceplates from behind the tracker, “But what about the human? Do you think he’ll hurt them?

Sunstreaker snorted, while Hound sighed, “I don’t know ‘Sides. I mean…I think the human is his ride away from here, but when he gets to wherever they’re going...” The tracker paused and looked down at the destroyed gloves, his own concern shinning though, “He’ll probably kill them.”

Huffing in his irritation, Sunstreaker crossed his arms, “Our concern is not the human, it’s the Decepticon. What should it matter to us if they get killed in the cross fire? I mean, it’s not like they’re one of _our_ humans.”

Hound gave the golden twin a shocked look, whereas his brother just glared at his younger brother, “That human is just as much a concern as the seeker!” Sideswipe hissed.

Narrowing his icy blue optics, Sunstreaker glowered at his twin. Hound, sensing a fight brewing between the volatile frontliners, cleared his throat, “Well, um, guys really if we find Thundercracker, we can save the human. So, so there’s really no reason to fight about it. Right?”

Sunstreaker’s massive gold shoulders lowered, but he still snarled at Hound’s meekness, “Whatever.”

Hound looked up at Sideswipe as he sighed, crossing his arms over his chest plates, “Alright Hound. What do we do now?”

The tracker looked back at the gloves and frowned, “Let’s keep to I-80 for now. When we get closer to I-76, we’ll see if we can find anything.”

The tracker kept saying ‘we’ in hopes to inspire a comradely link between the three of them, but he didn’t have much hope for Sunstreaker. He just didn’t seem to get along with anyone. Sideswipe at least nodded to Hound in agreement, choosing to attempt to get along with the tracker.

The golden twin just snarled again, “Whatever. Let’s just keep going.”

The golden twin folded down into his alt mode and took off down the dark road. Sideswipe and Hound each sighed and shared a look. Frowning at each other, Sideswipe broke the silence, “At least you’re easy to get along with.”

The crimson mech dropped down into his own alt mode and waited for Hound to follow suit. Hound sighed again, casting one last look at the damaged gloves he dropped them. He dropped down into his jeep form, his armour settling around his frame, “Alright ‘Sides, let’s go try and catch up with your twin.”

Sideswipe snorted as he slowly pulled ahead, “We can try alright, but I doubt it.” With that the red Lamborghini began to drive ahead, keeping at a slow pace so that Hound could keep up with his much more powerful engine.

“Maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll slow down.” Hound said hopefully.

Sideswipe laughed at the tracker, “It’s funny that you think that.”    

Hound just sighed, falling in line with the faster vehicle.    

()()()

****

TBC...

 

 


	5. Fireworks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright here we go again, chapter five! I would like to thank my fantastic beta, Brighter than the Sun, Sunny. Great job as always for giving the chapter its final polish.
> 
> Warning: The reason for the 'M' rating is because of the next chapter. But enjoy this one :D

**Important Information**

“...” Speaking

:...: comm. link

 ** _‘....’_** bonded speech

‘...’ thinking

 

 **Astrosecond** \- 2.5 earth Seconds

 **Klik** \- 150 earth seconds/ 2.5 earth Minutes

 **Orn** \- 150 earth minutes/ 2.5 earth Hours

 **Joor** \- 60 earth hours/2.5 earth Days

 **Metacycle** \- 17.5 earth days/2.5 earth Weeks

 **Vorn** \- 10 earth weeks/2.5 earth months

 **Stellercycle** -30 earth months/2.5 years

 **Breem** -slang for a moment/minute.

 **Night Cycle** : star down to star up

 **Day Cycle** : Star up to star down

 **Disclaimer** : I own only my OC’s, nothing else.  
  


()()()

 

When Callie woke up the next morning, she was curled tightly in Thundercracker’s palm. At some point in the night the large seeker had moved his servo to scoop the tiny girl up and hold her close to his faceplates. Three of his digits were curled around her, warming her soft, squishy body.

Despite being made of steel, Callie found that the seeker was rather comfortable and his armour warm against her cool skin. Lying still for a few moments, the blond knew she had to get up and get Lucy going so they could get back on the road. She did, however, want Thundercracker to rest a little longer, after his pain filled break down the night before; the seeker needed it.

However, Callie needed to pee and that was impossible with three large black digits curled around her small form. Wiggling a little, Callie slowly began to pull her way out of Thundercracker’s light gript, trying her best to not waking the seeker.

She knew she failed when she tried to pull her legs from Thundercracker’s fist and the seeker flinched and his faceplates scrunched up. The human froze, her small hands laying on the seekers finger and hoping that he would return to sleep.

But when his single working optic blinked on and he groaned, Callie sighed and waited for the inevitable reaction from the seeker. It didn’t take long.

The moment Thundercracker’s optic onlined he spotted the small human in his grip and shot part way up in a panic. Callie jerked as he did this, hoping he wouldn’t crush her legs accidently with his quick movements.

Staring at her with wide almost panicked optics, Thundercracker snarled, “What are you doing!”

Still shocked, the blue seeker released the human and she sighed in relief. Carefully hopping off his hand, Callie stretched her legs and walked to the front of the truck. Throwing a look over her shoulder as Thundercracker sat the rest of the way up to lean against the trailer, Callie said “Can you turn around? There’s not really a lot of privacy out here.”

Making a face of disgust, the seeker whipped his helm around to look in the other direction of the empty road. “Your systems are disgusting.” He snarled.

Callie laughed as she walked to the front of her truck, pausing first to open the passenger side door and leaned into the cab. She grabbed a handful of napkins and finished her walk to the front of her truck, making sure to stay far enough away so that urine would not splash on to it, “Whatever. Not like I can help it.”

Thundercracker shifted uncomfortably when he could actually _hear_ Callie doing her business, and he decided that he did not like it. Not one bit. He heard her shuffling around again and walk back to the cab of the truck, “Okay you can turn back around again.”

Cautiously, Thundercracker turned his helm back to face the human. She was squirting something into her hands and rubbing it into her skin. The smell of lemons stung his olfactory senses, making the seeker scrunch his faceplates, “What the pit is that?”

Glancing up, Callie shrugged, “It’s hand sanitizer. It kills germs without damaging my skin.”

“Right.” The seeker paused, feeling more at ease now the human was no longer doing her business or touching him, “Now. What were you doing curled in my servo?”

The question came out with a little more bitterness than he meant it too, but the human brushed it off, “How should I know. _You_ picked me up. You totally cuddled with me.”

Fearing that the human would mock him, Thundercracker snarled at her. Much to his utter disappointment, Callie just laughed again. “Hey man, you’re the one who cuddled with me, so don’t get all pissy.”  




"I am not...pissy!" He snapped at her, his mouth plates forming the odd human word awkwardly.

Callie fought the grin that came to her mouth, and failed to conceal it, which only irritated Thundercracker more. Raining in his temper, the seeker vented hard and scowled at the human, "I'm not." 

"Whatever Thundercracker." Callie grinned. 

The blue F-15 just sighed, deciding that he would ignore the girl as long as she was being sarcastic like this. Instead he began to inspect his wounds, glad to see that his self repair systems had closed most of the leaking lines. Even the edges of his armour began to knit close; his systems would never be able to completely repair the damage done to his side, a medic would be needed for that, but at least all the pain sensors would be dulled down now.

"How are you feeling?" Callie's soft voice broke his train of thought, making him look at the still sleep mussed human. 

Frowning, Thundercracker didn't like how his spark warmed, just a little, when she had asked him how he was doing. He didn't want to feel pleased that this pitiful girl cared enough to ask how he was doing and worried about his wellbeing.

She shouldn't care, only his bonded and trine mate cared about how he was doing and her compassion confused him. Caring and empathy was not something that was accepted within the Decepticon ranks, although he knew it was there if you knew how to look.

Only once, after a particularly brutal loss to the Autobots, he had caught Soundwave in the medbay with Rumble. The tinny cassette’s arms had been torn from his small body during the fight and had been sobbing hard in pain. While Hook had been repairing Megatron, who had far less serious injuries, Soundwave had moved like a ghost to his tinny creation to quiet him.

What had surprised Thundercracker was when the blue mech had gently laid his massive servo around the cassette and used his thumb to brush at his tinny helm. At the time, everyone else was so wrapped up in their own issues that they hadn't even noticed that Rumble had stopped crying, never mind that it had been Soundwave that calmed him.

Thundercracker had noticed though, as he stood by Skywarp wishing he could hold his damaged mate, he had noticed how the communications officer had quieted his small creation. Noticed how Soundwave hovered close as though Rumble were his sparkling, waiting patiently for Hook to come and repair the tiny 'con. Thundercracker had turned his helm and pretend not to notice, if he held sympathy for his TIC it would end badly for him. It was easier not to like someone when you thought they were just a sparkless drone. 

The blue seeker pushed those thoughts from his processor and focused back to Callie, who was frowning at him. As he moved his black servo to cover the damage, she said "You still there? You're starting off into space."

Venting air through his intakes, Thundercracker settled against the trailer, "Yes, I'm fine." 

"Are still feeling sick?" Callie asked, concern easily read on her face. 

"No. The diesel has passed through my systems. I'll be fine." He assured her, trying to ignore the unease in his spark. 

Callie only nodded, her dark blue eyes on the seeker's hand, "What about the clamps? They still holding?" 

Thundercracker sighed, "Yes. The energon has not weakened them enough to break yet." 

"Want me to check them anyways?" 

The seeker frowned at the human, purposely ignoring the warmth in his spark, "No. it’s fine." he said coldly, firmly putting a proverbial wall between himself and the human. 

Callie shrugged, ignoring the seekers sudden change in attitude as she leaned into the cab of the truck and Thundercracker could hear her gently waking Lucy up. The small girl came out a few minutes later, her blond hair sticking up in different directions as she rubbed her eyes, "Morning 'Cracker." the nine year old said tiredly.

The seeker nodded to the girl as she staggered to the front of the truck; Thundercracker turned his helm, once again cringing when he heard the girl doing her business. Callie came around the seeker's leg, tilting her head back to look up at him, "Will you need more diesel?" 

Looking down the road, Thundercracker tried to ignore the human, "Eventually but I should be fine until tomorrow." 

Frowning up at the seeker, Callie sighed, "Alright. We're going to head into town before hitting the road again. We need to grab breakfast and brush our teeth. We’ll stop at Tim Horton’s or something." 

Before the seeker could respond, Lucy came to stand beside her sister, "We're in the states remember? No Timmies." 

Callie rolled her eyes, "Dunkn’ Donuts then." 

"Then why bother urinating outside then?" Thundercracker suddenly snapped, drawing both girls eyes up to him, "If you’re just going to go to a restaurant, why not wait until then?"

"Because I needed to pee then, not later. I wouldn't have made it to a restaurant." Callie said, her tone sarcastic. 

Thundercracker grunted at her and purposely looked away, "We need to get going. So when _you’re_ ready get in the trailer." 

The seeker relaxed at her scathing tone, he could deal with that easily enough. He knew how to deal with that. He ignored the girl as he slowly stood, pain from his abdomen shooting throughout his frame. Moving slowly, Thundercracker walked to the mouth of the trailer and eased himself inside. He allowed Callie to close the trailer doors, lock it and tie a new ribbon around his pede. She still had an annoyed look on her face as she did this, but she still stopped to say, "We'll be driving for most of the day, if you need a break just bang on the trailer." 

The human left before Thundercracker could respond to her and he heard her stomp to the truck. However, the seeker did hear Lucy say, "He's grumpy in the morning." 

Callie didn't respond, just put Lucy in the truck and shut the door. The seeker heard her stomp to the driver’s door, muttering angrily to herself and it made Thundercracker feel more at ease. An angry human he could deal with. 

Settling as best he could into the trailer, Thundercracker reactivated his recharge protocols. He heard the truck's engine start and pull back onto I-76, trying to convince himself that it didn't bother him all that much that Callie was annoyed at him. Not that much at all.

()()()

Skywarp felt like he couldn't breathe. He was currently curled up in his lonely berth as his intakes hitched and he desperately tried to drag more air into his heaving frame. Cold energon tears streaked down his grey faceplates and his frame shook hard with emotional over load. A broken sob slipped past his tightly sealed lip plates; the purple and back seeker slammed his servo over his mouth in order to silence any other sobs that might slip out. It wouldn't do for the other Decepticons to hear him crying, even within his own quarters.

The youngest seeker had spent all his time off searching for his missing mate and had come up with nothing. Skywarp knew that Thundercracker had to keep a hard clamp on his end of the bond, but that didn't make it any easier for the purple seeker. It was like there was a part of him missing, that big part in Skywarp's spark that was Thundercracker was dark and cold. He knew his older mate was not deactivated, he would have felt Thundercracker's spark being ripped from his, but the blue seeker had never kept the bond closed this long. 

Another broken sob was breathed harshly into his servo as Skywarp reached desperately out to his mate though the bond, but was met with a cold, solid block. The block caused the smaller seeker to keen in misery and curl tighter into himself. 

Primus he wanted his mate back and would be willing to give anything to have him back; to have that dark, empty block removed and feel the flow of thoughts and emotions once again from his strong mate. He might have been okay if Starscream had used the trine bonds more often and made a connection with the smaller seeker. Since rising to the Decepticons second, the tri colour seeker had clamped down on the trine bonds unless it was an emergency. When Thundercracker had cornered his trine leader as to why, Starscream had scowled back at his lieutenant saying, 'it’s for your own good.' 

It had been, Skywarp realised early on in Starscream’s time as second. Every time the faster seeker stumbled into Thundercracker and Skywarp's quarters, nearly offlining, frame sparking from his damages and mind ripped to shreds from what Megatron had done to him or forced him to do, Skywarp was thankful he didn’t have to live it himself through the seeker trine bonds. Over the centuries their trine leader had hid more and more of himself, burring himself deeper in his armour of anger and hatred. Skywarp knew it was to protect himself as much as them; Megatron was brutal to Starscream, so it was no surprise that the tri colour seeker revolted against him so much. It was a pity he always lost. 

Thundercracker had always said that Megatron had ruined Starscream, turned him into what he was now. His trine leader was well on his way to being a top scientist on Cyberton, despite being a seeker. He had been happy, Thundercracker had told Skywarp, he had been friendly and left the trine bonds as open as a bonded pair. 

The younger seeker couldn’t remember a time when Starscream was like that, and only on the rare occasion felt his leader through the bonds. Skywarp sniffled as he thought about that; Starscream and Thundercracker had found Skywarp when Vos had fell, just before joining the Decepticons. So the young seeker had never seen Starscream like that. The only times Skywarp had actually felt the real Starscream through the bonds was after Megatron freed him from 'The Hole.' 

'The Hole' is what Starscream called the tinny nook that Megatron had created in the deepest bowls of Nemesis. It was literally a tinny hole in the wall that was leaking dirty salt water with absolutely no light. It was the worst kind of psychological torture one could inflict onto a seeker; to feel trapped and alone in a dark, small space. Unable to feel the wind on his faceplates or stretch out his wings, it would throw even the most disciplined seeker into a fit of hysterics.

That was the only time when Starscream sought out his trine mates through the bonds; alone in a tight corner while Megatron mocked him. The trine leader would turn inward, first reaching out than latching on to his trine mates while panic assaulted his mind. When Megatron finally grew board of letting his air commander suffer, Starscream would wander weak and broken, like a ghost to his trine mates.

It could sometimes take days for Starscream to come back around again, and that was only if Thundercracker and Skywarp could dance around Megatron long enough to get the air commander air borne. Even then, the usually strong, and confident Starscream would curl between his wing mates for several night cycles until he could return to his right frame of mind.

That thought brought another sob from the purple and black seeker; Thundercracker was always there for his trine mates. No matter how bad things got the blue seeker held the other two together, giving comfort to Starscream and unrestraint love to Skywarp. Starscream was the leader of their trine, but Thundercracker was the glue that held them together and Skywarp missed him desperately.

Another sob rattled from the purple seeker’s chest causing his frame to shake and Skywarp wondered if he would be able to actually recharge at all. He had another shift the following cycle, which meant that Skywarp would have to wait that much longer to search again for his mate. Starscream had also went out to search for his lost wing mate and came up with nothing, which just broke the youngest seeker’s spark all the more.

The door to his quarter’s suddenly swished open, and Skywarp perked up in hopes that it was Thundercracker about to walk through the door. The blue seeker would rush to Skywarp’s side, pull his frame into a tight hug and reassure him that everything would be alright. Thundercracker would then comm. Starscream to let him know he had made it safely home and tell the trine leader to come down to their quarters.

Skywarp’s hopes were dashed, however, when Starscream walked into his quarters. The younger seeker wilted under his trine leader’s scrutinizing gaze. More tears slid down his light grey face plates as his lower lip trembled.

Closing the door behind him, Starscream came further into Skywarp’s quarters and huffed as he crossed his arms over his chest. 

 "Stop your blubbering Skywarp! We'll find him." Starscream's harsh, screechy voice snapped.

It just made the younger trine mate burry his helm in his forearms and sob harder, no longer bothering to cover his mouth. Starscream shuttered his optics and vented deeply; Thundercracker was the one who usually consoled the purple seeker and the tine leader was more than a little unsure about how to go about it. He was going to leave Skywarp alone for the cycle, unless the smaller jet came to his quarters again. The other seeker was an adult and he should be able to handle a missing mate for a few days, Starscream had thought. Apparently he was wrong. 

So great was Skywarp's misery that it had actually bled through the trine bond blocks that Starscream had carefully erected, and slammed into the leader hard. He had been in a commanders meeting when suddenly feelings of sadness, loneliness and want caused the SIC to suck in air through his intakes in a hiss that drew Megatron's blood red optics to him. He had barely held it together long enough for the meeting to end and practically ran to Skywarp's quarters, seeker programming demanding that he get to his trine mate and comfort him. Of course Starscream would never do something as undignified as  _run_ to Skywarp, but he had come oh so very close to doing just that. 

Taking another calming breath, Starscream crossed the room to the berth that Skywarp was curled on and climbed on to sit beside the smaller F-15. Hesitating at first, Starscream lay a gentle servo on the point on Skywarp's back where his wings joined, and gently rubbed. The teleporter just sobbed harder, softly saying Thundercracker's name over and over between his hiccups. 

Frowning to himself and tanks twisting, Starscream quietly said, "We'll find him Skywarp. Thundercracker's tough. I'm sure he's on his way back to base or someplace safe for us to pick him up." 

Soft chirping that a seekerling would have used to ask for affection left Skywarp’s lip plates, reminding Starscream that his wing mate was indeed very young. Pit, _he_ was still young in the eyes of his people, but Skywarp was much younger than him. An unwanted chirping rely left Starscream's mouth and he silently braided himself for showing such a weakness. He did, however, still wrap an arm around black and grey shoulders and pull Skywarp closer to his warm frame. 

The younger seeker sobbed suddenly and threw his body into Starscream’s, burring his helm in red and white chest plates. The trine leader froze as Skywarp sobbed into his chest, not really sure what do to with his distressed trine mate. Slowly and a bit awkwardly, Starscream wrapped his arms around Skywarp, holding him tight. Thinking back to those hazy nights when Thundercracker had held him, the air commander tried to imitate what his lieutenant did for him. 

He rocked Skywarp back and forth while humming an old seekerling rhyme that his carrier had once hummed to him. He was surprised that he remembered it, but shrugged it off. He was now the only one who was left to be care taker of the teleporter and he acted like a slagging youngling all the time. Skywarp calmed enough to mutter, "Thanks 'Screamer." before dissolving back into quiet hiccupping sobs. 

Starscream didn't answer and just continued to rock his trine mate, hoping with everything he had that Thundercracker would be found soon. 

()()()

Megatron frowned at the computer screen as he hunched over a consol in the security and communications room. He had ordered Soundwave to relinquish his consol so that Megatron could access the hidden camera that he had ordered the boxy blue mech to hide throughout the Nemesis. Said blue mech was standing behind his Master, watching quietly what was playing out on the screen in Skywarp and Thundercracker's quarters. Starscream had left the officers meeting far too quickly and with too much urgency for Megatron not to notice that, and that meant that something was going on.

Whatever Starscream was into, Megatron wanted to know about it.

"How weak." Megatron mused as he sat back with his arms crossed over his massive grey chest, "I had thought I had broken the command trine's bonds."

Soundwave said nothing, just watched the screen with a new sense of worry settling in his tanks. 

Casting a glance over the large cannon that adorned his shoulder, Megatron sighed, "You're relieved of duty for now Soundwave. I will deal with the seekers in due time." He paused and turned his red optics back to the screen, "I'll allow Starscream to have his moment of weakness. Then I will crush it out of him. We cannot have this kind of weakness within our troops Soundwave." 

The visored mech bowed his helm and his computerized voice answered, "Response: Yes Lord Megatron." 

The grey Decepticon ignored his TIC and went back to watching the display before him. Knowing it was time to take his leave, Soundwave turned and headed for the exit of the room, wondering if Megatron had set camera in his quarters as well. He wouldn't dare use his telepathy to find the answer; Megatron would know and would not hesitate to punish him for it, regardless of his blind loyalty. 

The third in command of the Decepticons worried for his small creations and knew it was time to do another sweep of the quarters to look for such spying devices. It would not do well for Megatron to find that he supplied comfort to them in the same manner that Starscream did for Skywarp. 

()()() 

Callie pulled to the side of the road to make camp for the night not long after they crossed the border into Utah. I-76 had become I-70 some time ago and there were no signs for any small towns were they had stopped. The only sign of humanity was one for a National Park that was still a ways a way. Traffic was light along that stretch of the highway meaning it was another good place to set up camp were few people would spot Thundercracker.

It was dark by the time Callie got out of the truck to let Thundercracker out of the trailer. She pulled the ribbon from his pede and unlocked the doors. Opening them she left the Cybertronion to let himself out, still too irritated by the earlier events to wait for him. Moodily, she sat on the tail gate of the truck with Lucy as the girls tucked into their fast food dinner and purposely ignored the seeker as he stumbled from the trailer. 

The diesel and recharge had done him some good, but the strain on his systems drained him far too quickly. He needed medical help soon; there was no denying that but Thundercracker refused to allow the humans to see him any weaker than they already had. Settling against the side of the trailer once again, and after giving his wing a good stretch, Thundercracker risked a glance down at the girls. 

They were once again eating 'hamburgers', much to the seekers disgust. 

"Did you have a good ride?" Lucy asked, much more awake than she was this morning; her hair had been brushed and her cloths changed. Callie continued to ignore him, choosing to look angrily at the trailer hitch by her foot. 

Venting, Thundercracker sighed, "Yes Lucy, I had a good ride." There was no point in being rude to the little one; she had no control over what was occurring.

Lucy smiled up at him as she continued to eat her burger. Swallowing, she asked, "Is the food bothering you tonight?"

The scent of the meat had once again caused his tanks to roll a little, but not to heave like they had the day prior, "No. I'm fine."

This statement caused Callie to glare harder at the trailer hitch, and Thundercracker was sure if looks could kill, the poor hitch would be a melted pool of metal.

"We have more diesel." Lucy said, bringing Thundercracker's attention back to her, "You can have some, if it makes you feel better."

"Thank you Lucy, I will be fine for now." Thundercracker said politely.

Callie looked up from where she had welded her gaze to glare at him, "Well when you do, please try to reframe from _destroying_ the jerry cans again. They may be cheap, but that will add up." 

Lucy gave her sister a frown at her angry tone while Thundercracker inwardly winced, "You're not still mad at me from this morning, are you?" 

Callie glared at him and practically snarled, "No!" 

A total lie, Thundercracker knew. She had said it far too harshly and too quickly for it to be true, "Then why are you being so...pissy?" he asked innocently, remembering the word from that morning.

The look Callie gave him could have melted steel, but the seeker managed to plaster a wide grin on his faceplates.

"I'm not pissy." She said her tone much calmer.

Mimicking the conversation from that morning, and enjoying it far too much, Thundercracker said, "Whatever Callie." 

He smirked at her when she had no reply for that. Although the seeker was quickly learning that Callie had a response for everything, it just took her a moment to gather her thoughts, "My _issue_ is that when someone is helping you, generally you at least _try_ to be a _tad_ bit grateful." Callie seethed, "You generally try _not_ to break their stuff and you generally try _not_ snap at them for no reason." 

Thundercracker barley concealed his grin when he asked, "So, you are still annoyed from this morning." 

Small shoulders dropping, Callie just sighed at the seeker, "You're such an ass." she said, her voice returning back to its normal rhythm. 

Snorting, the seeker settled back against the trailer feeling quite proud of himself for smoothing things over with the human without having to resort to saying 'I'm Sorry.' “We can’t help what we are.” He said, tilting his helm back, looking to the stars.

“No more than I can help how my systems work?” Callie asked cheekily. Thundercracker could practically hear the grin that the small human had plastered on her face.

Opening his mouth to give her an equally cheeky response, he froze when there was suddenly a loud bang and colourful lights filled the sky. The seeker tensed as he watched the colours explode across the dark sky, with a crackle.

Lucy gasped and excitedly said, “Fireworks!”

She jumped from the truck’s tail gate and ran to Thundercracker’s side. Sighing, Callie cleaned up the mess on the tail gate as another burst of colour filled the sky. The taller human quickly tossed the garbage into the truck and hurried to her sister’s side.

Another fire work burst in a display of red and white light, causing both girls to gasp in awe. Neither girl noticed how tense Thundercracker had become or the way his mouth hung open slightly as he watched the display.

Lucy, still staring at the sky, tapped the seekers leg and asked, “TC, will you lift us up to the trailer so we can see better.”

Numbly Thundercracker moved his servo so that it was resting flat on the ground, palm up. The two girls quickly climbed onto his offered servo, still not noticing how the seeker frowned almost sadly at the sky as green light exploded.

Carefully lifting the girls to the top of the trailer, they both climbed off and perched in the same positions they had the night prior. Yellow and gold light exploded next, reflecting off the shiny polish of the truck.

“What do you think they’re celebrating Callie?” Lucy asked, smiling up at the sky.

Callie shrugged, keeping an arm around her sister to stop her from falling, “I don’t know, there are no holidays coming up. A birthday maybe?”  




Smiling from her seat between her sister and Thundercracker, Lucy happily said, “Aren’t the fireworks pretty TC?”

Purple light filled the sky as Thundercracker pulled his legs up to his chest with a wince to rest his black forearms on his blue knees. With a soft sigh, the blue F-15 shook his helm no and gently said, “No. No it’s not Lucy.”

Red light filled the sky as the small girl gave the Decepticon a confused look. "What do you mean?" 

Another sigh left the seeker as he continued to watch the sky as white light exploded, "My species...Cybertronians that is, have this ability to transform into what you would call vehicles. We call them Alt forms." 

Callie nodded, not sure where this was going and asked, "You were one of the jets that flew over the farm, weren’t you?" 

Nodding, the seeker continued, "Yes. Here I can transform into an F-15." 

He paused to say more, but then Callie chimed in, "An F-15? Why not go for something faster or newer? I’m sure the military has gotten past the F-15." 

He smiled bitterly, "We had wanted to select a faster, newer model, the F-22. But...our leader disagreed."

"Why?" 

Thundercracker sighed, "It doesn't matter." 

Frowning as another burst of color caused Thundercracker to flinch, Callie asked "So why do you dislike fireworks?" 

"When we lived on Cyberton, all seekers had a different form, a Cybertronion version of the jets here." He paused to look at the two humans as they watched him, "When war broke out and after Vos fell, most seekers joined the Decepticons. The few fliers that joined the Autobots changed what they called themselves, and renamed their group 'Arielbots.' They didn't want to be reminded of what they truly were. They wanted to separate themselves from...us." The seeker tipped his helm back to the sky as blue light filled the sky, "But I digress. Sometimes when a seeker is hit, depending on how and where they are hit, their whole body will explode. Their inner gasses and fuel will catch fire and evaporate their frame and outer armour.”

Thundercracker paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts, “Unlike the ground pounders, we need specialized nutrients within our fuel that help to keep us air borne. We couldn’t fly without it. Pit, even if I had two wings, I still wouldn’t have the proper energon to fly. It’s sort of like how your jets need jet fuel.”

The seeker paused again, dropping his gaze to his pedes in an uncharacteristic display of vulnerability, “I’ve had subordinates die that way. It is...one of the worse ways to die, or so they say. Depending on what kind of fuel and gases are within the seeker's body, they will explode in colors...kind of like your fireworks." 

Lucy frowned slightly while Callie had a look of horror as she stared up at the seeker, "What!?" 

Thundercracker nodded, still not looking at the humans, "It happens to war ships too. Hit the fuel tanks, different colors will explode with it. Of course that's even before you consider what kind of cargo a seeker or a ship is carrying, that too plays a factor in the colors that burn it out."

"I...I don't think that happens here. Not like that." Callie stuttered, not really sure what else to say.

As the fireworks became less and less, Thundercracker shook his helm, "No, I didn't think it would. Energon has a tendency to burn with green flames when it sets on fire. Our laser charges also will burn with different colors. The end result looks like that." He slowly looked up and nodded to the sky, as the finally suddenly hit its high point; colors of gold, silver, red, green and blue filled the sky. 

Lucy looked down at her lap frowning, and then looked to Thundercracker, "So...so fireworks look like dying seekers?" 

The sky became dark and stayed dark as the Decepticon sighed, "Yes." 

Both humans sat in silence, staring at the alien in a state of shock. Thundercracker kept his single working optic focused on the dark sky above, not wanting to see pity that was no doubt on the girls faces. 

It was little Lucy, who kept staring at Thundercracker with a small frown, that eased her way out of her sister gript to slip onto Thundercracker’s shoulder. Settling comfortably on his shoulder, the small girl curled into him with her small hand resting against the tension cables of his throat. With a moment of hesitation Callie followed suit, slipping down the side of the trailer onto a blue shoulder plate. Settling beside her sister, Callie gently ran her hand over the seeker's damaged armour. 

The Decepticon froze at the girl’s gentle attention, desperately ignoring the return of the warmth in his spark. He couldn't afford to get attached to the two, small humans that he had _just_ met. ‘Even if Lucy was undeniably adorable.’ The seeker stiffened at that thought, and quickly purged it from his processor. The tinny human was not adorable in any way, shape or form. 

"It's ok TC. We'll get you home. We won’t let the Autobots hurt you." Lucy said quietly, pressing her tinny face into his throat affectionately. 

Snorting, Thundercracker kept his optic trained on the stars, glad that Callie, at least, was silent. The pair stayed with the seeker until they fell asleep, curled on his shoulder. Settling back onto the trailer, Thundercracker powered down to recharge, firmly ignoring the spreading warmth in his spark. 

()()()

**TBC...**

****

 


	6. How Far we Fall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hurray, Chapter six is here! It's a long one and I hope you guys enjoy it. (Almost caught up to the chapters up on Fanfiction.)   
> Thank you to the one and only Brighter Than the Sun, Sunny, who did the beta work on this chapter and gave the chapter its final polish.  
> Warning!I'm upping the rating now because of physical and physiological torture and implied rape. If you are uncomfortable with this, skip the middle part. Mentions of past drug use later on. You have been warned, all flames will be ignored. Poor, poor Starscream.

**Important Information**

"..." Speaking

:...: comm. link

' _ **...'**_ bonded speech

'...' thinking

**Astrosecond** \- 2.5 earth Seconds

**Klik** \- 150 earth seconds/ 2.5 earth Minutes

**Orn** \- 150 earth minutes/ 2.5 earth Hours

**Joor** \- 60 earth hours/2.5 earth Days

**Metacycle** \- 17.5 earth days/2.5 earth Weeks

**Vorn** \- 10 earth weeks/2.5 earth months

**Stellercycle** -30 earth months/2.5 years

**Breem** -slang for a moment/minute.

**Night Cycle** : star down to star up

**Day Cycle** : Star up to star down

**Disclaimer** : I own only my OC's, nothing else.

()()()

Thundercracker was looking up at the clear starry sky, feelings of dread and unease filled his systems. Something was wrong, so very wrong back on Nemesis, something wrong with Starscream and Skywarp.

He couldn't put his finger on what was wrong, he just knew something very bad had happened, and here he was, safe from Megatron's wrath. Feelings of guilt and worry gnawed at the blue seeker as he continued to watch the stars.

()()()

_Several Cycles Prior_

A ping from Megatron caused Starscream to jerk awake from his uncomfortable position. Onlining crimson optics, the trine leader slowly sat up and stretched his back struts with a groan. He tried to move his wings, but they were still pinned against the wall he was leaning back on.

Skywarp was still curled into his trine leader's chest, deep in recharge with his wings pulled tight to his body. Starscream had slipped into recharge with the younger seeker, his red and white frame slumped over with cobalt arms wrapped around Skywarp.

Groaning, the tri colour seeker tried to get a kink out of his neck struts by twisting his helm; he would have to remember to not recharge in such an awkward position again. Rubbing at his face, being careful not to wake his sleeping trine mate, Starscream replied to his leader, :Yes, Lord Megatron.: Not wanting to leave his young trine mate because of his sarcasm, Starscream kept his tone polite.

The SIC had no idea what kind of mood Skywarp would wake with and if it was going to be as bad as the cycle prior, Starscream wanted to be by his side. He seemed to have done well with his distressed wing mate the cycle before, and was growing more confident he could do it again. As long as no other Decepticon, especially Megatron, found out about this little weakness, Starscream would be alright.

:Get down to the war room. Bring Skywarp with you.: Megatron ordered, causing Starscream to go ram-rod stiff. The only times he was ordered to the war room was either when Megatron was planning an attack or to beat his air commander.

Forcing himself to calm, Starscream's frame relaxed; he had done nothing wrong lately, he hadn't even plotted against Megatron since Thundercracker went missing, so there was no reason to worry. Chances were his dense leader had come up with some other half cocked plot to get energon.

No doubt the plan would fail _miserably_ and the Autobots, along with their human pets, would ensure that failure was the only option. Starscream would be punished for said failure, regardless of it being his fault or not. It wouldn't matter to Megatron if the air commander had a better plan or not. It was the same old 'song and dance' as the humans would call it.

The only real variable was how angry Megatron was going to be after another failure. Starscream was sure it would end in failure, which brought up the point of how badly he would be punished this time around.

Glancing down at Skywarp, Starscream sighed; if Megatron forced him into 'The Hole' he would have to rely solely on the purple jet to bring him back mentally, something the older seeker was unsure if Skywarp could do.

'Pit, I actually miss Thundercracker, the fool always knows how to care for us.' Starscream thought to himself bitterly, upset that he had grown so used to having another care for him. Another weakness to add to the growing list.

Sighing, Starscream dropped his helm to his chest and offlined his optics, :Right away, Lord Megatron.:

Cutting the comm. link from his leader, the tri coloured seeker raised his helm slightly, onlining his blood red optics once again. Moving his arms from around the sleeping form, Starscream rested his cobalt servos onto Skywarp's shoulders to gently shake his wing mate wake. The younger seeker jerked awake, his ruby optics snapped on in surprise, muttering "TC?" under his breath as he looked around his quarters.

Giving his trine mate a gentle push, Starscream managed to crawl off the berth to stretch his wings, "Get up 'Warp, we're needed in the war room."

The younger seeker gave his tine leader a hurt look at his cold tone before dropping his gaze to his knees. Feelings of guilt rose like bile from Starscream's tanks, which he quickly smothered. They could be weak within the safety of their quarters, but they were about to go see Megatron and if any Deception realized that the seekers actually cared for one another, their _leader_ would be sure to beat it out of them.

"Skywarp, you need to get a hold of yourself! We will attend to whatever Megatron wants of us, then continue our search for Thundercracker." He said harshly as he crossed his arms, emotionally stepping back from his trine mate, "We have not abandoned him, but we must keep up appearances."

Taking a shuttering breath, Skywarp muttered, "Right. Of course."

After another deep intake of air, Skywarp too stood from the berth and stretched out his wings only to drop them low against his back again. A sure sign of submission and depression in the seekers stance, one that Starscream didn't like. Despite the blank look that the teleporter had adorned, his optics were still downcast and sad.

Inhaling sharply, Starscream placed a servo on his wing mate's shoulder. Using his other servo he tilted Skywarp's chin up, "We are seekers damn it!" he said roughly "Keep your wings up! We will have our chance; we will make Megatron pay for everything he has done to us. He will pay for every beating, for every moment of humiliation, he will pay for it...he will pay for plunging us into this futile war."

The trine leader paused glancing away before catching Skywarp's optics again, "We will bring honour back to our class. Now smarten up soldier, if you want to find Thundercracker we need to placate Megatron."

Black and purple wings slowly rose at Starscream's small speech, arching high and proud behind the seekers frame as some of the youthful light came back into Skywarp's optics. Back struts straight and shoulders up, Skywarp gave Starscream a lop sided grin as he saluted his trine leader, "Yes sir!"

Satisfied that his trine mate would at the very least make it through the meeting, Starscream released him and turned for the door, "Come, let's go see what kind of poorly designed plot our half bit leader has managed to come up with."

Raising his own wings with pride only a seeker could mange, Starscream puffed out his armour and schooled his faceplates into a scowl, as he desperately tried to ignore the worry that settled in his tanks. With Skywarp right behind him, the air commander left for the war room...and the moment he stepped a pede into said room, he knew something was wrong.

The first thing the air commander noticed was that there were far too many mech's in the war room for it to be a simple meeting; usually only the commanders and their lieutenant would attend the meeting and would then gather their subordinates to pass the orders along to them. Now it seemed that every Decepticon in the base was crammed into the room, each pushing and fighting to see whatever Megatron had decided would serve as entertainment for the morning.

Feelings of fear and worry began to force its way past Starscream's tight clamp on his emotions, but the seeker managed to keep his dark scowl plastered on his faceplates. The next thing that Starscream noticed that caused his tanks to constrict were two Cybertronion sized meat hooks that dangled from the ceiling attached to thick chains.

He quickly opened the private comm. link to Skywarp, keeping the blocks in the trine bond firmly in place as panic began to rise in his processor, :Skywarp, get in a corner and stay hidden. Don't involve yourself.:

The trine leader risked a glance at his wing mate who stared at the hooks with wide, frightened optics. Starscream nodded to the dark wall, hoping that Skywarp would understand the silent order. Worried red optics drifted away from Starscream and to the ground as his wings drooped, all signs of his previous confidence disappearing. Skywarp then tried to blend in with the rest of the Decepticons, keeping his wings low and close to his body.

Nodding to his trine mate, Starscream turned his helm to search for his leader when something wide and heavy slammed into the side of his faceplates. It knocked him off balance, sending him stumbling back.

Wiping the thin line of energon from his lower lip, Starscream slowly straightened and turned to see who dare hit him, only to have the same fist slam into his jaw again. He stumbled back again, the split in his lower lip widening, but the seeker managed to maintain his balance.

A kick to the side of his waist sent Starscream tumbling to the ground. Distantly, he thought 'So I'm the entertainment.' It was a bitter, self deprecating thought that dissolved the last remnants of Starscream's self confidence and pride. Neither had a place in a session with Megatron (Starscream was now certain it was his tyrant leader who had hit him) he would only take pleasure in crushing it anyways.

Megatron couldn't take away something that wasn't there after all.

Turning around, but not yet getting up, Starscream scowled up at his leader, "What the Pit was that for!" he snarled, his temper getting the better of him.

Megatron's angry frown deepened into a dark glower, his cold red optics focusing in on his air commander. The jostling and chatter had died down amongst the Decepticons to an eerie silence, all optics on the commander and their SIC.

Instead of responding to the seeker, Megatron calmly sauntered to his air commander and promptly kicked Starscream's faceplate with the flat part of his pede, knocking the seeker flat on his back.

Momentarily stunned, Starscream lay still while Megatron stomped on the white wing and ground his pede as though he was putting out a cigarette on the ground. Starscream's wing cracked and the platting sloughed off under Megatron's heavy pede, causing the seeker to gasp. He managed to rein in his cry before it burst from his lip plates.

Stepping on Starscream's other wing Megatron crouched low, so that he hovered over the seeker's chest plates. Leaving Starscream in a vulnerable and submissive position, Megatron gently grabbed the seeker's light gray chin. Using a blunt thumb, the war lord carefully caressed Starscream's face plates, smearing the energon across his cheek. The seekers spark flared with panic, Megatron was always gentle right before a particularly harsh beating.

Keeping his face plates lax, the seeker looked up at his leader, trying to judge his mood. Anger was the only thing that bled through the gray mech's optics. Not daring to move, Starscream managed to ask, "What do I owe this treatment, master?"

Instead of answering, Megatron pulled his fist back, slamming it so hard into the seeker's soft face plates, his crimson optic cracked and shattered. The air commander clammed down hard on his inner lip plates to stop from crying out, which only seemed to anger Megatron more; so he repeated the action, cracking Starscream's cheek plate.

Pressing a digit into the wound, eliciting a hiss from Starscream, Megatron softy said, "You know what you did." But Starscream could hear the anger underlining his leaders soft tone.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about! I haven't done anything." Starscream panicked, his pitch hitting a higher octave. "Whatever I did, I'm sorry. Please, please just stop, oh gracious leader! M-merciful leader."

From his dark corner, Skywarp dropped his optics at the pitiful sight; he didn't need to have the trine bonds open to know that this was slowly killing his trine leader. Megatron knew this too, and his lip plates curled into a cruel smile, enjoying how he could make his seeker degrade himself without trying any more.

"You're pathetic, Starscream." Megatron hissed, not caring that he spat into his seconds face, "You're oh so weak." The larger mech paused for a moment, relishing his power over the other, "Say it."

Starscream clamped his jaw's shut tight, giving his leader a defiant glare. The titan grinned down at the seeker, excited that he would get to crush that defiant streak from him once again. Wrapping his servo tightly around his soft throat, Megatron pulled Starscream up to him, the seeker's wings bending to allow for the movement.

A few Deceptions' laughed at the seeker's pain, reminding Starscream that he had an audience. His attention was drawn back to Megatron when his leader began to squeeze the seeker's throat. Panic blinded his processor and cobalt servos clawed desperately at the gray one that was crushing this throat.

Chocking, Starscream could barley focus on Megatron as he gave the order again, "Say it."

The grey fist loosened from the damaged throat, giving Starscream a chance to cough and intake air deeply through his mouth, "I'm weak." He eventually muttered dejectedly.

Megatron's cold grin greeted the seeker, "Say like you mean it Starscream."

Fear and the will to live made the overly proud seeker do it, "I'm _weak_." He said with more emphasis on the word his leader wanted to hear.

"And?" Megatron asked, clearly enjoying the game.

Swallowing hard Starscream evenly said, "I'm _pathetic_."

"There's a good seeker." Megatron crooned mockingly, causing the seeker to flinch, "Now shall we see what you've done."

Lifting Starscream up a little higher, his wings bending further, the metal screaming in protest, Megatron looked over his shoulder and gave a sharp nod to someone behind him. It was no doubt Soundwave, the seeker thought to himself through a haze of pain and humiliation as the dark screen behind the titan suddenly came to life.

Megatron smirked when he felt Starscream stiffen beneath him as the security video began to play out the scene from Thundercracker and Skywarp's quarters from the cycle prior. Although there was no sound, the crew of the Nemesis howled with laughter at the shameful display of weakness between the two seekers. Although he could not blush, Starscream's faceplates heated with embarrassment and humiliation, causing Megatron to chuckle darkly when he felt the heat on his servos.

The titan lifted a single servo from his second's throat to silent his crew, and the laughter died abruptly, "Bring Skywarp forward."

The purple seeker's frame stiffened when his leader spoke his name and his processor froze with fear. Two heavy servos pushed him forward as the crowd parted to let the younger seeker through, so scared he didn't see their jeering faces. He tried with everything he had not to appear afraid as he was roughly shoved to the front of the group, and a careful kick to the back of a knee joint dropped Skywarp to his knees. His bravado was short lived as fearful optics locked on Megatron who grinned coldly at him, clearly enjoying the fear he inflicted on the teleporter.

The same servo that silenced the room slowly reached out to gently cress the other seekers face in a mockery of comfort, "Don't worry Skywarp, it'll be over soon enough."

Staring at his master with wide, frightened optics Skywarp's frame began to shake, his armour rattling loudly in the near silent room. He drew his wings in closer to his back in a show of submission and lowered himself to the ground, making himself as small as possible. Megatron laughed at the posture; Starscream could feel his trine mate's fear bleeding through the blocks that he so carefully erected. Old protocols rose to the forefront of his processor, his programming demanding- _screaming_ \- that he do something to protect his trine mate. He was the leader after all, it was his duty to do it.

So intent and focused on Skywarp's fear, Megatron didn't notice how his second suddenly relaxed under his grip as one blue servo released the gray one that was wrapped tightly around his throat. The Decepticon commander never saw the hit coming when Starscream's tightly curled fist suddenly slammed into the side of his face with a sickening crack; it gave the seeker some small amount of satisfaction to hear that noise. The surprise attack sent the warlord tumbling off the SIC's supine from, allowing Starscream to scramble to his pedes.

Ignoring how his wings ached and how they were bent at an awkward angle, Starscream lifted the same arm with his forearm gun at the ready. Snarling unintelligibly, the seeker shot at his commander, hoping to at least incapacitate him. Much to his dismay, Megatron easily dodged the onslaught of laser fire and ran straight for his second. Fueled by rage, Megatron tackled Starscream like a line backer, sending them both of them sprawling to the ground.

Quickly getting the upper hand, Megatron once again pinned his air commander to the ground by straddling Starscream's hips and using his greater weight to keep him pressed to the ground. Wrapping both large servos around the forearm that had been firing at him, Megatron began to squeeze the thick appendage. The moment Starscream realized what was about to happen, shock and fear passed over his faceplates just moments before the pained look marred his features.

"No, no wait please, I'm sorr-" Any begging that Starscream was about to do was cut short when Megatron crushed the seeker's forearm, collapsing the metal in on itself and twisting. Metal screeched in protest while wires and associating joints snapped, but those noises were lost to Starscream's pain filled howl that echoed off the war room walls. Skywarp flinched from his position on the ground, and watched in horror as Megatron stood, dragging his second to his pedes.

Starscream, panting hard, cradled his damaged arm to his body, the servo undamaged but completely useless now that all the wiring to it had been destroyed; it would have hurt less if the arm had been completely torn off, which is why Megatron only crushed it. Barley standing on his pedes, Starscream swayed dangerously and managed to swallow the next moan of pain as his arm was violently jostled.

Grabbing hard onto one of the seeker's white wings, Megatron dragged the damaged seeker to the hooks that dangled ominously from the ceiling. Through the haze of pain, the trine leader could see where his leader was dragging him, and began to struggle, trying desperately to get out of Megatron's grip, "No,nononononono. Please master, please, no!"

The ex-gladiator turned with a nasty smirk on his face as his servo once again wrapped around Starscream's already damaged throat, and lifted the seeker into the air with a single arm. The air commander grasped at the larger servo with his smaller one, his damaged arm dangling uselessly at his side. Skywarp watched in horror as Starscream rasped at Megatron, no doubt trying to beg for mercy as the massive mech turned and rammed Starscream down onto the hooks.

The scream of pain that ripped through Starscream caused his vocal processor to short out to static as the hooks tore through his wings, part of his air vents and shoulders, the sharp points jutting out from the front of his shoulder platting. It was the noise that Starscream made that caused Megatron to smirk with satisfaction. The seekers good optic flickered off and on as his one good arm tried to grip at the chains to pull himself off the hooks. If Starscream had been paying attention to his leader, he would have known that his punishment was far from over.

Unable to move from his frozen spot on the floor, Skywarp watched horrified as Megatron began to use Starscream as a living punching bag; laying blow after blow to the soft abdominal plating until it began to crack. As energon flowed down the front of his red armour, Starscream continued to weakly try to pull his shoulders from the hooks as Megatron's unrelenting blows rained down.

Noticing that Starscream was vainly attempting to escape the hooks hold, the tyrant grabbed the seekers smaller servo and roughly dragging it down closer to the gray frame. With cold efficiency, Megatron broke each of the seekers digits at both knuckles. All Starscream could do was allow his shoulders to take his weight and give a sharp static filled cry at every snap and pop. The usually proud seeker had started to grow numb to the pain, only distantly noticing the snaps and pops.

Knowing that there was no more he could do to protect himself, Starscream hung limply as Megatron went back to using his body as a punching bag. Staticy whimpers continued to leave the energon coated lip plates as the armour of the seeker's abdomen plating gave completely. Energon lines ruptured, his primary tank cracked, and wires frayed under his leaders fists.

The single working optic blinked off, but Starscream still didn't fall into statis lock as he coughed up energon that covered his dental plate. A sudden shot to the seeker's cockpit caused Starscream to gasp, his intakes hitching and sputtering as the glass shattered.

The larger mech pressed his digits into the holes where the glass had once been, and with a hard squeeze and twist of his wrist, Megatron ripped the cock-pit from Starscream's frame, tearing it off its hinges. The harsh action caused Starscream to twitch and convulse in his pain, a screechy whine leaving his lip plates. When the convulsing passed, Starscream managed a weak staticy groan and panic assaulted Starscream's processor even worse than it already had. Starscream stopped thinking when he panicked to that degree.

Onlining his optic, the seeker watched with growing horror as Megatron dipped a digit into the hole he had made when he ripped away his protective plating and gently pressed it to the glass of his spark chamber. Slowly increasing pressure against the glass, he caused said glass to crack and splinter, "I could kill you right now my little seeker." Megatron said coldly, a twisted smile on his lips. He enjoyed watching the red and silver spark pulse wildly in his panic, black flecks within the spark flickering erratically.

Unable to respond with anything other than a static whimpered and squirming uncomfortably, Starscream tried to pull his chest away from Megatron's probing digit. But the action pulled on his shoulders, causing a bolt of pain from his shoulders again.

:It's okay Starscream.: A soft voice said to him from his helm, and it took the air commander a breem to figure out it was Skywarp on the comm. link. :Just, just be still and he'll grow board.: the voice was weak and fearful, but Starscream still didn't dare take his optic off of Megatron. The massive Decepticon was still roughly stroking his spark chamber, his blood red optics focused on the ball of light that was Starscream's life force.

The Decepticon leader hummed suddenly, growing board at watching the dancing light within his second's chest compartment. For a moment Starscream thought it was over when Megatron moved his large servos to Starscream's thighs, gently running his digits up and down the seekers inner thighs. The damaged seeker felt horror rise above the panic and he managed to swallow the groan of denial before his master could hear it.

Skywarp watched the scene play out with a sick feeling in his tanks. He has heard the rumours about Megatron and Starscream, but never believed them. If they were true the teleporter would have known, he was sure of it. Not even Starscream could keep that a secret...could he?

The younger seeker was pulled from his musings when Starscream suddenly bucked out of Megatron's hold, causing himself to swing painfully away with a harsh cry. He winced when his trine leader swung like a pendulum back to his masters awaiting servos.

Megatron caught his second with one servo, gripping him painfully tight at a hip structure. Drawing back his other tightly curled fist, the gray mech rammed his fist into the seeker's opposite hip, cracking the black pelvic plate. It caused the seeker to gasp out and tense as his master raised his fist to do it again.

Instead, Megatron stopped and grinned at the seeker. Giving Starscream a small push, the seeker swung back and forth on the hooks, the pain cutting through even the numbness. Turning to face the rest of his men, Megatron smirked, "This is the price of weakness." the Decepticon commander's voice echoed throughout the small room, piercing the sparks of all his men. Most didn't show their fear, but a few shuttered and hunched into themselves.

No longer did they laugh at their fallen second; it could just as easily have been any one of them hanging from the hooks, they were all guilty of showing weakness to someone within the army. Everyone had a small group or mech that they leaned on in times of loss; but now they knew the price if they were ever discovered.

"There is no place for weakness here. Remember that." Their leader said coldly, his hard optics moving slowly over his men, no doubt looking for any more weakness, "You're dismissed."

The Decepticons all slowly shambled from the war room, crimson optics still watching their SIC as he swung weakly from the hooks; some even still laughed and snickered, hiding their own fear at what Megatron would do to them if they were ever found out. Skywarp didn't dare move, knowing that the order had not been for him. He also didn't want to leave Starscream alone to his fate; with Thundercracker gone the teleporter thought it be best for the pair of them to stick close.

Megatron gave a distasteful look at Skywarp before turning to his second, "Was it really worth it? A night of... _pathetic_ cuddling really worth all of this?"

Starscream did nothing; just let his frame swing painfully back and forth as he hung limp on the hooks. Frowning, Megatron lifted his servos to the seeker's shoulder, placing it on the joint and the other on the hook, "This might sting a little," and with a good hard yank ripped the hook from Starscream's frame.

A static yell left the seeker as more pain broke though the layer of numbness as he hung lop sided on the single hook, his pedes scraping along the ground. Panting hard through his mouth, Starscream barley flinched when the second hook was ripped from his shoulder, tearing at the wing joint.

The tri coloured seeker dropped to his pedes before falling to his knees; rivers of energon flowed gently down most of Starscream's chassis in a gruesome display of carnage. Falling back down so that his aft sat against his pedes, Starscream hunched inward in his pain, panting hard. His single working optic flickered in rhythm with the pulses of pain that radiated throughout his frame.

The massive gray mech slowly circled his second, energon slicked his large servos that had been spilt from the seeker. Coming to finally stand in front of Starscream, Megatron crossed his thick arms and scowled, "I'm disappointed in you Starscream. It has been a long time since I've seen this kind of weakness in you." The titan paused to glance at Skywarp, "I thought I had...eliminated that pathetic trine mentality you had worked so hard to form." Starscream didn't lift his helm to look at his leader as Megatron shrugged, "No matter. A session in The Hole will fix that."

The seeker's helm snapped up immediately and fear shone through his usual cold exterior. Blinking at his leader, Starscream could only mouth, "No."

Skywarp shot his trine leader a flabbergasted look, as Megatron smirked, "No?"

"No." Starscream's mouth formed, panic blaring in his optic.

His blatant panic seemed to please Megatron, and the massive gray mech smiled as he reached down and hulled the seeker to his pedes by an undamaged shoulder vent, "What makes you think you have a choice?"

The seeker whimpered as he was dragged from the room, too frightened to fight his master's grip. Calling back into the room, Megatron lightly said, "Bring Skywarp along Soundwave. We don't want him to miss this."

Melting from the shadows of the war room, Soundwave silently moved to the younger seeker, his pedes soft and light on the ground. Skywarp could only stare at the damaged form of his wing mate, desperately wishing Thundercracker was with him.

He pushed to his mate through the bond, and nearly sobbed again when he was met with a block. Biting hard on his inner lip component, hard enough to draw energon, Skywarp managed to keep his emotions in check. He backed away from the bond, instead focusing on the situation at hand.

Soundwave approached the younger seeker from behind and wrapped thick blue servos around a black upper arm. With a surprising amount of gentleness, Soundwave tugged the teleporter to his pedes, plainly ignoring the look of shock on the seeker's face.

Gently leading Skywarp from the war room, Soundwave followed his master through the dark halls of the Nemesis, down to the lower most bowls of the dark ship. To the small storage room that Megatron had constructed. The Hole.

Skywarp allowed himself to be pushed along the halls, too frightened to put up any sort of resistance. Ahead of him, however, Starscream put up as much of a resistance as his damaged frame would allow; he ducked and pulled weakly, but it did nothing to loosen Megaron's tight grip on his shoulder vent.

The deeper into Nemesis they went, the harder Starscream struggled, static filled cries of protest leaving his damaged lips, reaching a fever pitch when they arrived at the room with The Hole. The howls of protest turned to panic as Megatron dragged the seeker commander into the room.

The storage room that contained The Hole was small and dark, barley big enough to fit Megatron and Starscream. The Hole was two panels of metal that Megatron had had someone weld around a leak in the ship's hull. Making a narrow slit in the wall where the victim could only stand, compressed in at all sides, water steadily dripping on their helm. A thick steel door with a heavy lock would seal the victim within the nook, trapped in the suffocating darkness. It was pure hell for a seeker.

Soundwave stood at the door way, a firm grip on Skywarp's shoulder to keep him in place while Megatron dragged his air commander into the room. Starscream screeched in his panic, tugging as hard as he could against Megatron's hold.

The massive gray mech looked at the weakly struggling seeker with a sick grin, almost like he was enjoying his seconds panic, "You should calm yourself Starscream, you don't want to damage your frame any further than it already is."

Instead of calming down, Starscream fought harder against Megatron's hand, panic driving him to flee. With a smirk, Megatron moved his servos to rest on his air commander's wing joint; pulling the already weakened appendage back Megatron forced the wing to break with a sickening _snap_.

A howl of static pain rang from Starscream as he convulsed in Megatron's hold, energon lines gushed the precious liquid down his back and wires that were suddenly torn apart, sparked. Moving with cold efficiency, Megatron lay his servos on the other wing and repeated the process, ripping Starscream's second wing from his frame.

A second yelp of pain tore past the seeker's damaged lips as he crumpled to the ground, twitching as the pain ripped through the wall of numbness that had build up around him. Megatron looked smugly down at his downed air commander, "That's better Starscream. Much better to be submissive, isn't it?"

The seeker had no response as the Decepticon leader grinned down at him. Bending down to wrap a servo around the delicate neck cable of Starscream's throat, Megatron dragged him back to his pedes once again. Roughly shoving the damaged frame of Starscream into The Hole, ramming his frame hard against the opposite wall, Megatron smirked.

As Starscream twisted around, pressing his damaged back painfully against the dirty wall, Megatron slowly closed the heavy door. He watched with a great amount of satisfaction as the light slowly left the small alcove and Starscream's panicked faceplates begged him to stop.

Megatron never did.

He closed and locked the door, the lock a heavy pronged wheel that spun the bolt in place. The Decepticon commander could practically count down the time when Starscream would break down.

10,9,8- he could hear the seeker trying to move and finding he could barley twist around (although he had more room than usual without his wings hampering his movement), his servos scrapping along the four walls trapping him in-7,6,5-could hear the seeker's intakes suddenly hitch and heave as panic assaulted his processor-4,3-the first soft whimper left Starscream as he realised he could not get out. He could not fly, he could not feel the wind-2- his wings were gone, so even that couldn't give the damaged seeker the comfort he was seeking-1.

Starscream suddenly let loose a howl of despair as he thrashed in his small cage, trying desperately to free himself from his prison. Only to find that he could not escape from his hold; Megatron smiled, oddly happy at his little seeker's pain and panic.

Skywarp watched the scene play out in the same sick sort of horror that he had felt since the moment Megatron hit his trine leader in the war room. He was helpless in this situation; he couldn't talk his way out of it, couldn't fight his way out of it and he was sure begging would only make Megatron happier, yet achieve nothing.

The teleporter swallowed hard, in front of him Megatron stood looking pleased, behind him Soundwave's solid frame held him in place. There was nothing to do and nowhere to go; if he teleported away, Starscream would pay for his weakness.

Suddenly, and abruptly, feelings of fear, hopelessness, self hatred and a slew of negative emotions hit Skywarp hard enough to cause the seeker to gasp. Starscream dragged the blocks down between them, reaching out through the delicate trine bonds to his only remaining wing mate. Something to keep him stable, something to keep him sane.

Not knowing what else to do, Skywarp pushed feelings of comfort and brotherly love through the trine bonds; he was unable to communicate with words through such bonds. One would have to be joined by the spark to hear thoughts from another, not just instinct.

The teleporter just hoped that it was enough to keep Starscream sane enough to get through this; inside The Hole, Starscream relaxed just a little. He slumped against the crusted, energon covered wall as Skywarp's presence filled his processor, unable to sit in the tight space.

Megatron smirked when he heard his second stop thrashing and the harsh gasp from Skywarp. This is how he wanted his air commander; injured and weak, leaning on Skywarp through the trine bonds. It was time to break those bonds, weaken his second once and for all. It was time to obtain a perfectly submissive second.

Turning to Skywarp, the massive gray mech wrapped his servo around the younger jet's throat and dragged him into the room. Fear from Skywarp spiked through Starscream, but neither had time to react as Megatron threw the teleporter to the ground beside the wall of The Hole.

"Break the bonds Starscream. Or I will make him pay for your weakness." Megatron said coldly.

Skywarp struggled against Megatron's hold, thrashing weakly against the bigger mech. "Starscream, don't do it! Don't!"

The Decepticon leader grinned when he heard the older seeker whimper, could hear his frame moving weakly in his cell, scraping painfully along the wall, "Do it Starscream. If you want to be free and fixed, you'll do it."

Nothing happened and no one moved, both seekers to scared to break the delicate silence in the cold, dark room. Then, Megatron wrapped his massive servo around Skywarp's knee joint and crushed it, no warning was given to the seeker to prepare him for the attack.

The shriek that left the younger seeker was like music to Megaron's audios, but it made Soundwave cringe inwardly. It was a horrifying, brutal noise that echoed off the walls in the small room.

"Do it Starscream." Megatron said coldly, his servo moving down the purple jets leg, coming to rest at his ankle when Skywarp stopped screaming, "Do it before I break something else."

Feelings of comfort and fear flowed between the two seekers, and Skywarp prayed that his leader wouldn't break the bond. Back away at least, just don't break it. He couldn't handle it if he broke it completely. Broken seeker's were no good to anyone.

Another scream of pain left Skywarp as Megatron crushed the mostly black ankle, causing the seeker to writhe in agony, "Do it Starscream...and I'll leave his pretty black hips alone."

It was a double edged meaning, Skywarp suddenly realized. One that Starscream would understand, which meant the rumours were true. They had to be, but how did the trine leader hide it so well? Skywarp's dark musings were interrupted when Megatron moved his servo back up the teleporters dark frame, ghosting along the damage he had caused.

The large servo dropped lightly around a sleek black hip, his blunt thumb gently circling and dipping into a transformation seam. As revulsion and fear hit Starscream, the air commander knew what would happen if he didn't give into his master, and he couldn't let Skywarp suffer like that.

Knowing that he only had one option to protect Skywarp, Starscream pulled away from his young trine mate. It was such a sudden departure, such a sudden break of connection that Skywarp though Starscream had cut the bonds completely.

The teleporter's frame suddenly bucked and thrashed in Megatron's grip as an unwanted keen worked its way past light gray lips. The purple jet moaned his trine leaders name as loneliness settled deep in his processor. Skywarp was officially alone in the Nemesis.

A similar noise reverberated off the walls of The Hole as Starscream started thrashing again, desperate to be free, doing more damage to his battered frame in his frantic actions. Hearing his trine leader break, Skywarp did too. The younger seeker curled into himself with a dry sob, hiding his face in part of fear of Megatron and in part embarrassment.

Pleased at the shameful display of weakness, Megatron nodded to Soundwave, "Take him to Hook. Have him repair the joints, then escort Skywarp back to his quarters."

Skywarp's wide, fearful optics were still locked on Megatron; the Decepticon leader went back to talking softly through the steal walls of The Hole, quietly mocking the seeker, slowly eroding away any sanity that Skywarp had hoped to save.

Soundwave bowed deeply to his master, not that Megatron knew or cared, and moved silently to Skywarp's quivering form. The communication's officer carefully pulled the teleporter to his pedes and lead him from the room.

"You're pathetic Starscream, that's why this happened. It's your own fault that this is happening, it's your fault that Thundercracker is dead." Megatron said to the now silent seeker, but the Decepticon leader knew that he had his undivided attention **;** that had been the last thing Skywarp heard as Soundwave dragged the damaged seeker from the room and to the medbay...

It was sometime later, after Hook cursed and swore about damaged joins and repaired them, that Soundwave escort Skywarp to his lonely quarters. The Decepticon TIC palmed open his door and carefully pushed him inside, being wary of the new joints. Soundwave seemed to catch his gentleness, and became irritated with himself. He couldn't allow himself to be weak after that display of brutality.

"Order, recharge. Shift tomorrow on communication deck, no excuses." The tape deck ordered, his robotic voice giving nothing away.

Skywarp nodded mutely as his TIC turned and left his quarters, worried what would happen if Megatron ever found out about his love for his creations. Meanwhile, Skywarp probed the trine bonds, almost sagging with relief that he felt Starscream's blocks firmly in place. They were buried deep within the bond, barley there at all, but they were there.

The teleporter stumbled to his berth, and once again felt the loneliness creeping back into his newly repaired frame. He worried for Starscream as much as he worried for Thundercracker, and the young seeker had no idea what to do about it or how to help.

Opening the private comm. line to Starscream, praying that his trine leader was free from their master for the time, :Starscream, are you ok?:

It wasn't the smartest thing to do, for all Skywarp knew his trine mate was still in that dark cell at the bottom of Nemesis and he always contacted the purple jet once he was repaired. Only...he hadn't.

:Starscream?: it was a hesitant, frightened voice that Skywarp sent out and he hated himself for showing weakness yet again.

Starscream's sudden screechy, brittle voice snapped at the teleporter, :I'm fine! Stay in your quarters tonight!:

The line went dead right after that, leaving Skywarp feeling alone, scared and very small in a base full of bigger, nastier Deception's them himself. It would have been ok if Starscream hadn't sounded so broken and weak despite his anger; it just made Skywarp curl into himself as misery over took the young seeker.

()()()

_Now_

They hadn't gotten out of Utah, instead only drove half way through the state and stopped to camp at Fremont Indian State Park . This allowed the girls a chance to shower and Thundercracker a longer chance to stretch out his damaged frame, but a longer travel time home. He had been grateful at the time, but now he just wanted to get back to Nemesis and find out what was going on with his trine mates.

The girls seemed completely oblivious to his unease and had cooked their meal over an open fire; even Thundercracker had to admit that it smelt better than the crap that they had purchased at the gas station for dinner the two nights prior.

Callie and Lucy had spent the rest of the evening playing card games, and Lucy had tried to include him, tried to entice Thundercracker to play with them. However, he had been too worried about the only two Decepticons he cared about to allow himself to enjoy their company. He didn't think he deserved to enjoy the new company he had acquired when his trine mate and bond mate were suffering.

So he had declined her request, opting to sit in his dark pit of misery and worry while Lucy laughed and played with her sister. Callie's dark blue eyes on the other hand, continued to slide over to the damaged seeker, aptly watching his curled form.

Both Callie and Lucy had gone to bed early with little conversation with the seeker, both seeming to sense that he needed to be left alone. It had also been similar that morning when they woke up still curled on Thundercracker's blue shoulder.

The seeker had been mortified that he had _again_ allowed Callie to sleep so close to his frame, this time with Lucy. The girls, however, had other plans and letting Thundercracker wallow in his own insecurities was not one of them.

They had woken up that morning, stretched and carried on as though nothing odd had occurred the night prior. They easily packed Thundercracker back into the trailer and drove for barley five hours to the national park where they decided to camp for the night. The camp grounds were nice and empty, so there was no fear of the seeker being caught by unwanted humans. This meant that he could be outside longer, which made Thundercracker happy to be able to relax outside instead of being trapped inside for so long, but that happiness was quickly replaced with anxiety for his trine mates; that anxiety had started that morning and had started with him all day long. Something very bad had occurred back on Nemesis.

Thundercracker sighed and slumped into his thighs, perching his chin plate on a knee. He kept his optic on the starry sky above as worry continued to assault his mind. A click of the truck door opening drew Thundercracker's attention from the sky to the sleek black truck as Callie's small form unfolded from the front bench.

She was wearing a pair of bright pink pyjama shorts and a black tank top, with her dark blonde hair pulled back into a messy ponytail. Her black shoes were unlaced on her feet, making them look big and loose like a little kid wearing adult shoes.

She walked slowly to the seeker, her own dark blue eyes on his worried face. She came to stand beside his hip and looked up innocently, "Give me a hand up?"

Too tired, worried, and worn out to complain, Thundercracker uncurled his servo and laid it on the ground for her to climb onto. Callie took the offer, easily sitting on the dark servo and allowed herself to be lifted up to the top of the trailer. Once there the small blonde climbed onto it and sat with her legs swinging just above Thundercracker's shoulder plating.

At first neither said anything to the other, not really sure what to say. Thundercracker lay his arm back around his legs and dropped his chin back on his knee, looking skyward once more. He needed a distraction, needed to concentrate on something other than his worry for just a while, "You're trailer smells like animal feces."

Callie snorted and tilted her head up to the sky, "It is a horse trailer. That smell kind of sticks to everything."

"I figured you would have cleaned it since you don't have horses there." He said lightly.

She lightly kicked the seeker's shoulder vent, it was a friendly kick that wasn't meant to hurt even if she could hurt him, "I did clean it!" she said defensively, but a friendly smile spread on her pixy face, "Not my fault that that smell attaches to it."

"Mhmm."

Callie shook her head, her blonde ponytail bobbing behind her head, "You're such an ass." She told him lightly.

He tilted his helm to her, a smirk on his own damaged faceplates, "You keep saying that."

Callie shook her head again, pressing her hands into the trailer on either side of her small hips, putting the weight of her upper body on her hands, "Hey, I call 'em how I see 'em."

Shaking his helm, Thundercracker tipped his faceplates back to watch the stars. Worry came back into his processor as the silence came back between the human and the Cybertronion. Whether or not Callie realized that he needed to talk was debatable, but the human asked another question, "Hey TC, how am I able to tow you?"

Thundercracker was not known for his smart ass comments, as that was Skywarp and even Starscream's forte-and there was a pang when he thought of his trine mates- but at that moment, he couldn't resist, "Well, you've done this for some time, I would have hoped that you would know how a truck can pull a trailer. You seem to know what you're doing."

Callie's head dropped to her shoulder, giving the seeker a flat, unimpressed look, "Oh Ha-Ha. Very funny TC."

Thundercracker snorted, "I thought so."

Another kick to his shoulder vent, and Callie whined at him, "Come on Thundercracker, I'm curious. I shouldn't be able to tow a freaken F-15 in my trailer. I figure that you're...humanized form is what allows you to fit into the trailer, but the weight thing has been boggling my mind all day."

The proud seeker sat back against the trailer, rocking it back slightly as he did, making Callie grab onto the edge of the trailer in fear of falling. He stretched his legs out and tilted his helm to the human, "It's because my protoform is so light. Much less dense than most metals."

Callie gave him a confused look, "What's a protoform?"

"It's," the seeker paused, not sure how to explain what a protoform was, "It's what's under our armour. Our true bodies, if you will."

Callie dropped her blue eyes, her brows furrowing in confusion as she considered his words, "Like a skeleton?"

"Sort of. We can survive without our armour, it's not a comfortable experience, but it is survivable." Thundercracker answered, not sure why he bothered. He paused for a moment, a smirk coming to his faceplates, "You cannot survive without your skin."

Callie snorted, "All right, point. So what is your protoform made from?"

"Protoform's are created from a nano structure made of silicon boride alloy." Thundercracker said with a shrug. Upon seeing Callie's wide, blank look, he continued, "It's one third the weight of steel, softer than diamonds, but harder than rubies. Due to its lightness it makes lift that much easier and produces faster fliers. It also puts my weight under your towing capacity, but barley."

Callie's wide blue eyes stared at him, and he could see her trying to process what he had told her as the information overloaded her mind, "Well then... Alright."

She went back to looking at the stars, but Thundercracker wasn't going to let her out of the conversation quite yet, "Why do you have such a large trailer?"

Callie sighed, not taking her eyes from the stars as a sad look came onto her small face, "It's a long story." She finally said.

Thundercracker countered, "It's a long night."

Callie looked down from the stars to look at the Decepticon, "Have you ever heard of 'Quid Pro Quo'?"

Thundercracker's un-cracked optic drifted up as he thought about the human term, "No, I haven't."

"Well, it basically means to exchange goods and services that are of equal value. In this case, I'm willing to trade information." Callie said, her gaze hard on Thundercracker.

Narrowing his optic on her, he asked, "What would you want to know?"

Callie's gaze never faltered, "I'm curious about you. I want to know what it's like to be a Decepticon."

The seeker snorted. 'No you don't Callie, no you don't. Not anymore.' He thought bitterly to himself as he considered her question, "What would you want to know?" he asked, suspicion marring his voice.

The blonde's head tilted to the side, studying the seeker, "Well, do you have anyone waiting back on base for you?"

He narrowed his optic at her, "Why do you want to know."

Shrugging, but still not backing down, Callie said, "You know I have cousins back home, that gives you one up on me. Let's make if even."

"And this...information exchange will focus on family?" He asked, still suspicious.

Callie thought about it for a moment, then nodded, "We'll stick to family."

"What does family have to do with a big empty horse trailer?" He demanded, his tone turning to anger.

Her small, usually pretty face turned bitter with an ugly, twisted smile. One he had thought that his happy, kind, sweet Callie was unable to make, "Everything." Her voice was tight and bitter, and Thundercracker found it didn't suit her personality. He didn't like it, not one bit.

Her bitterness did perk his curiosity however, and he found he wanted to know what could have caused such a strong, hurtful response from her, "Alright. We'll play your game of Quid Pro Quo. So why do you have such a large trailer?"

She finally smiled at him, and he preferred her happy grin than the bitter one she wore just moments ago. It gave Thundercracker a moment of pause, wondering when her happiness started to matter to him. He instead shrugged that thought away, waiting for her to start.

Instead of answering, she asked, "Not so fast. You already know my cousin's names. If this is going to be fair, you need to give me your family members names _and_ what they mean to you."

Gray lip plates tugged down in a frown as he studied the girl, wondering if it was a trick. She had, however, given the names of her cousins up to him. Heaving a sigh, Thundercracker responded, "The only ones I care about back at base are my trine mates and bonded. Starscream is my trine leader and Skywarp is my trine mate and bonded."

"What's a trine and a bonded?" Callie asked, the words odd coming from her mouth for the first time.

Holding up a black digit, Thundercracker smirked, "Ah, that's not the rules of the game. I gave up the names of my," he paused, thinking about the human word she had used, "family members. Therefore, by your own rules, you need to give me more information."

Callie blinked at him before she smirked, "Alright. I guess it all really started with my cousins. That's where everything went to shit."

"With your ho-bag aunt?" Thundercracker asked lightly, thinking back to the first time they met.

Nodding, Callie turned her face skyward again, "With my ho-bag aunt. Her name is Susan. Susan McCormick, she moved to Ontario, Canada before she started high school. I don't know what State she grew up in."

"How does your cousins and their mother end with you having a large empty trailer?" Thundercracker interrupted, confused.

Callie tipper her head down again to look at the seeker, "I told you it was a long story. Now are you going to let me tell you?"

Thundercracker lifted his servo up and rolled his wrist to signal for Callie to continue, "My father's name was Mark McCormick. His brother, Danny's father, was Kevin McCormick. He married Susan right out of high school, and had Danny not long after."

The blonde's eyes dropped down to her knees, "Apparently that's when the problem started. Susan claimed that she couldn't _deal_ " the word was spat out bitterly, "with having a kid. She got hooked on drugs. Crack mostly. I only heard about it, but dad told me it got really bad near the end. I think Danny still remembers more than she lets on, she just chooses to ignore it."

A heavy sigh left the small female, her dark blue eyes still stuck on her knees, "Danny was...two I guess when Uncle Kevin had enough and kicked Susan out. He just couldn't deal with a two year old and a crack addicted wife. So he gave her a choice, rehab or the streets and she choose the streets."

"I think it still hurts Danny that Susan chose drugs over her, but she'll never admit it." A bitter snort left her then, "I'm pretty sure that we all need freaken counselling for all the crap we've seen."

She gave a half shrug under the Decepticon's harsh gaze; he had heard similar stories back on Cyberton as well. It was rather unnerving to hear such identical situations occurring here on Earth, "Uncle Kevin owned a small mechanic's shop back home in Ontario. Kevin...he taught Danny everything about cars. How to drive them, how to fix them, how they work, everything! Hell, I think Danny could use a ratchet before she could walk."

"So, you're very close with Danny?"

Grinning, Callie looked up, "Even back then. She was the city mouse, I was the country mouse. When we were a little older, we use to write to each other all the time and would call each other every night. I think I was something for Danny to cling to, another person she knew would never leave her like her mother had."

Her voice had become excited when she spoke of her cousin, but the small smile that had come to her face slipped again, "Susan came back into their lives when Danny was like, six I think. She still remembers it, even though it was such a long time ago. She was so happy to have her mom back."

The blonde's voice was tight, full of pain and anger, "She was so strung out on drugs she had no idea who the fathers of Mia and Aleyah were. Barley knew who Danny was."

"Are Mia and Aleyah twins?" Thundercracker asked, forcing his tone to be light and non-threatening.

A shake of her head made the seeker frown, "Mia is ten months older than Aleyah. Both had been so under weight and no one has ever said it, but I figured that they were addicted to something when they were born. I've seen baby pictures of them, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were." She paused and sighed again, "But we'll never know. Everyone but Susan is dead, and I think Danny would hit her if they ever met again."

Thundercracker wasn't sure what do to with this information, but he did ask he supposed. Part of him wondered if she just needed to unload to someone, and he had been the one to ask what had happened. Kind of ironic though, all he wanted to know was why she had such a large trailer. He allowed her to continue, remaining silent, "Just after bringing Mia and Aleyah to Kevin, Susan left again."

Her eyes hardened into blocks of ice, "I think that's when Danny started to change. Even at six, she was just so hurt by Susan's actions, angry that she left them. I think that's why Danny is over protective of the younger girls, to make up for their shitty mother."

Callie gave another sigh and a shake of her head, "We still have pictures of Danny holding them when they were babies, this little glower on her face. Almost like she was daring someone to take one away from her."

Sadness and anger warred on Callie's face as she became silent. So Thundercracker prompted her, curious to what happened next, "So Kevin kept the other girls?"

A bitter sweet smile took over her anger and sadness, "He did."

"Even though they were not his?"

"Even though he was not their biological father." Another pause, and Callie hesitated, "He didn't want his only daughter's sisters to end up with another family or in foster care."

She looked up to the sky again, avoiding his gaze, "They thrived with Kevin though. By the time they hit high school Mai was...this bubbly healthy girl." She smiled then, really smiled as she thought of her cousin, "She loved to organise parties. She still does, we have no idea where her organisation skills come from, none of us have it. We joke she got it from her sperm donor."

Callie finally risked a glance at Thundercracker, his expression guarded but not judging. It encouraged her to keep going, "Aleyah on the hand got all the anger. I think she's just angry at the situation more than her sisters, and she used to fight a lot." Callie sighed again, looking away, "Danny was no help, always encouraged her to fight back. Aleyah always looked up to Danny and still follows her lead."

"Although, in fairness it was Danny who found a way to rein in that anger by getting Aleyah to join the skeet shooting team at her high school. She was pretty good too; I think she found solace in the control of her shotgun. Knowing when and where she was going to shoot, how quickly she could re-load. The total control of something."

Callie laughed a little, glancing at the seeker, "Danny used to time her to see how fast she could field strip her shotgun...she was pretty good."

Callie sighed, deflating into herself. Thundercracker canted his helm, not sure what this information would do for him. But, he supposed it was part of the deal, "You're missing one. There was a fourth girl...Laura or something."

Callie smiled, "Liz. Her full name is Elizabeth. Susan managed to get herself clean long enough to have her healthy. Danny was eight, the other girls were about two." She snorted at that, looking back at the seeker, "She had them all convinced that she was going to stay with them that time. Had Kevin go through the adoption papers and everything. She split before Liz's adoption even went through."

The seeker blinked at the human, "Your uncle was left alone to raise four girls?"

"Yep."

The seeker shook his helm, "Poor bastard."

Another kick to the air vent let Thundercracker know that he had succeeded in lifting her spirits, and the seeker was again left wondering when he began to care, "So what about Liz, what's she like?"

Callie grinned at the mention of Liz, "The opposite of the rest of us. She's the only shy and quiet one of the lot of us. Only confidence she has is her work with computers." Callie snorted a little, "I can barely make my I-Phone work and my little cousin can program programs to...do things. It's ridicules how she does it."

"This is all well and good Callie, but I'm curious to how this applies to your massive trailer?" Thundercracker asked, dropping his chin into his servo.

"Patience Thundercracker. I'm getting there." Callie grinned. Her grin faded when she went on to the next part of her story. "Danny was sixteen when doctors found cancer in her father's liver. They caught it far too late, and it spread to his lymph nodes. They had to watch him waste away to nothing for two freaking years. For all our technology, there was nothing the doctors could do to stop it. He died in the hospital one night. Just...gone."

"My uncle Kevin...he could light up a room. He was such a good man, and our world is worse because he's gone."

Thundercracker tilted his helm to the small blonde, a question leaving his lip plates before he could stop it, "They came to live with you?"

"Danny was barley an adult when her dad died. She wasn't going to leave her baby sisters alone though, even with us. So the four of them came to live on our farm."

"With your father Mark? What about your mother?"

"My mom, Kendra, died giving birth to Lucy. Dad remarried not long after. _I_ always thought Amy was a gold digger."

Thundercracker frowned at the term, "A gold digger?"

Callie's small head bobbed, "I think she was only with him for the money. Our farm was worth quite a bit."

"Then why did your father stay with her?"

"I think he thought we needed a mother. A female role model in our lives." Callie rolled her eyes with a sigh.

"So, what? You're cousins moved in with you, and you lived happily ever after?" Thundercracker asked, almost bitter. For human's, things always turned out better and easy for them. They could never understand the hardships that the Cybertronions had to go through.

Callie surprised him when she said, "For about six months."

The seeker canted his helm to her, confusion marring his faceplates, "Six months?"

Callie sighed, her breath catching in her throat, "My dad was in a farming accident six months after they arrived. He was working under a tracker when the lift gave and crushed him."

Thundercracker winced as the blonde looked down, catching her lower lip in her teeth, a nervous habit, "We always thought that Amy had played a part in his death. Danny looked at the lift after the police, she knows it was messed with. Could never prove it though, even though the cops knew someone had messed with it too."

"Right after dad's funeral, Amy kicked us out. All the six of us had were the cloths on our backs and whatever was in our names. Dad bought me this trailer," she patted the roof with a flat hand, "so it was in my name. Amy couldn't keep it or the two horses dad bought us. So we left the farm with a brand new, big trailer, an old truck and whatever we managed to get from our rooms. I heard later that Amy sold the farm to some developers...that was the last I heard about her."

Callie sighed, seemingly emotionally drained. Thundercracker looked at the brand new truck then back to the human, "What did you do to survive?"

The blonde smiled, the bitter look coming back to her face, "Danny and her sisters have a dual citizenship because of their mom. We left Canada not long after Amy kicked us out and we came to the States. We told the border guards that we were participating in a jumping competition. We had all the paper work, so we really didn't have that much trouble. Danny got a job as a mechanic in Detroit and we enrolled the little girls in school. I...took care of the girls."

Again, the seeker cast a glance at the shiny truck, "How did you afford such a nice truck then? I don't think a mechanic could afford something like this."

Callie frowned at him, "I've never told anyone this before. Don't...don't judge us."

Thundercracker gave her a disbelieving look, he had no doubt done so much worse than anything she could ever come up with. "What, you care what I think?"

"Maybe I do." She replied, defensive.

Rolling his red optic, Thundercracker snorted, "All right. I won't...judge."

A soft snort left the human as she seemed to settle herself again, "It started with racing. Danny was fixing cars for some local racers and they invited her out, let her race one of their cars. She won this blood red 1967 Shelby Cobra. It's the only car she still has from her racing days."

"That was how we supported our selves; Danny would win pink slips and sell the cars she won. Naturally, we all hung out with the racers, all six of us. Even Lucy. It was one huge party, and we weren't the only ones with kids there." Callie paused to look up to the stars, "Looking back it was so irresponsible. Liz was only like...twelve and she was hanging out with racers on weekends."

"She started hanging out with the crew's hackers. Twelve years old, and they were teaching her how to hack into the motor vehicular department so that the racers had all green lights. Looking back, I have no idea what we were thinking...but it supported us for so many years."

"Eventually Danny's driving skills attracted the wrong kind of attention." Callie said, and Thundercracker found he was unsurprised. When you were doing bad things, meaner, bigger people always took notice; it was what happened to Starscream when Megatron found him.

"A car boosting crew asked her to join them. The money...Danny couldn't say no. Not when she had Lucy, Liz, Aleyah, and Mia all depending on her to bring home the bacon, so we all moved to Los Vegas with her crew. Stealing cars is what bought my new truck, paid for Lucy's hospital bills when she broke her arm and put food on the table."There was a pause and her sad voice said, "All we wanted was to give the other girls a better life than we had."

The human was silent again as she looked out in the silent night, "So what happened?" Thundercracker asked, his voice gruff.

The human paused, thinking about her answer, and Thundercracker knew right away she would leave something out, "I got sick of worrying about Danny, sick of bad people following her home...sick of wondering if she was ever going to be arrested. So we decided to go straight. Boston was her last job. She bought me the truck and had enough money left over to purchase a small garage in L.A. Money is a lot more tight now that we've gone straight. We can't afford the horses anymore, so we sold them, and I won't need a trailer anymore so that's going to be sold too."

"It's kind of ironic that we finally do the right thing and we have to get rid of the damn horses." Callie shook her head and scrubbed at her eyes with her hand.

Thundercracker stared at her for a moment before he realised that she was leaking liquid form her eyes. He shifted uncomfortably and turned his face away, giving her some small privacy, "You're not telling me the whole story."

"Well, I think you've heard enough. You're turn." The blonde said scrubbing at her face.

"I'm curious." The seeker said firmly, "Might as well tell the whole story."

Giving the jet a small, watery smile Callie said, "Another night. Your turn, tell me about Skywarp and Starscream."

The seeker dropped the question at the miserable look on Callie's face, "Alright." He paused to consider his words, "Seeker's form what we call trine's. Three seeker's to every trine."

"How do you find your trine?"

"It's instinct. You just feel this pull on your spark, and you just know. I found Starscream when we were still mechlings and we've been together ever since. He's so smart, almost a top scientist back home before war broke out." He told her with pride, it had been _his_ trine mate to break the mould, and he told Callie as such.

"It's very rare to find a seeker outside of a warrior role. So when he was accepted to the science academy, it was a big deal." The blue seeker sighed, "But when war broke out, no one needed scientists. Starscream was forced into the role of a warrior."

Callie frowned, her heart going out to the scientist. She knew what it was like to give up what you loved to do, "How does a trine work?" she asked instead, not wanting to insult the usually proud seeker.

He squirmed a little under her soft gaze, glad that the redness was gone, "Starscream is the trine leader, and again it's an instinctual thing. Just as Skywarp knew I was his lieutenant and not the other way around. We just know who we are to follow, our sparks guide us to the right leader and trine mates."

Callie frowned, "What's a spark?"

The blue jet placed his servos on his cockpit, "It's us. Our life force, our soul, our heart. Everything that is good within us, is in our sparks."

Her dark blue eyes fell onto his chest, awe lit up the color of her eyes. "Wow. So, this connection what does it do for you?"

"It allows me to feel his spark, feel his feelings. Nothing as deep as hear his thoughts, only bonded can do that. But I can sense him." He paused for a moment, not entirely sure why he was telling her all this but chalked it up to her own honesty, "A connection like that takes stellercycles, sorry years, to form though. The more we trust our trine mates, the stronger our connection is to each other."

"So, I guess you and Starscream are close then."

"Closer than brothers."

The silence returned, bringing Thundercracker's thoughts back to his trine mates and what could possibly be happening on the Nemesis. The seeker knew something bad had happened, his instincts screaming at him to get home. 'Few more days.' He thought to himself, and knew he needed to start planning on how to leave Callie without hurting her feelings. Again, the strange notion that her feelings suddenly mattered to him confused the seeker.

"What about Skywarp. You said she was your mate and that you were bonded." Callie asked, genuinely interested.

The blue seeker snorted, "Skywarp is a mech, not a femme."

First surprise, then embarrassment passed over Callie's face, "I'm sorry!" she said in earnest, "I didn't mean to...I mean. I just assumed." She dropped her face into the palm of her hand, muttering at herself. When she finally raised her small face again, she apologised again.

Her apology startled Thundercracker, no one had ever said 'I'm sorry' to him before and actually meant it. He was unsure how to accept it.

"So Skywarp. What's he like?" Callie asked, her tone excepting.

Giving her a shrewd look, Thundercracker shrugged, "A trickster. The only mech's back on base that are even close to responsible at half the pranks are Rumble and Frenzy. He acts like such a youngling sometimes, it's hard to think of him as a full grown mech."

'And a killer.' Thundercracker thought bitterly to himself. Time and time again he had told his young bonded that Megatron had twisted Starscream, but in reality the war and corrupted so many of them. Even the Autobots, but that was also something else Callie didn't need to know about.

Callie laughed at his description of Skywarp, "He sounds like fun. Do you think we could meet him?"

It was a terrible idea, but seemingly unavoidable. If Starscream came to fetch him, he would no doubt insist that they annihilate the humans that knew of their existence, seeing them only as a threat. Skywarp, at the very least could be convinced to let them go on with their lives, and it was a bitter thought. Callie and Lucy had kept him alive for a grand total of three lousy days and they could be rewarded with the end of their lives.

Truth be told, Thundercracker didn't think he could do it, stand by and watch the light leave their eyes. They had been the first kind creatures to him in over a millennia, he would not repay that kindness with death. Not if he could help it.

"It is very probable. I will have to contact Skywarp once we are safe enough away from the Autobots and for him to pick me up." Thundercracker shrugged nonchalantly, keeping his fear in check.

Callie's eyes lit up, causing the seeker to inwardly cringe, "Can you feel Skywarp through your bond like Starscream?"

"Sort of. We had trine bonds first, then bonded through our sparks. It's a more private, in-depth bond. It allows me to not only sense his feelings but also his thoughts."

"So you can read his mind?"

"No, it's not telepathy. He would have to push his thoughts to me. Most often it is done as a conscious action, but in times of panic and battle I will catch a stray thought from him that he did not intend for me. The bond, of course, works the other way as well. He can hear my thoughts and feel my presence."

Callie hummed, and Thundercracker could see her thinking up her next question, "Can you feel them now?"

"No. I have put a strong block on my end of the bond. They do not need to feel this," he used a servo to gesture to his damaged side, "But if the bonds were open, I would be able to feel them slightly. I am far from home so the bonds are being stretched thin."

"Oh. I'm sorry about that, it must be lonely without them."

The seeker smirked at her then, "That's alright, I've seemed to have picked up a few humans that irritate me enough to not notice."

Callie gave him an unamused look, "Oh haha. Just remember, if I hadn't let you stay in my trailer you'd be scrap metal on the side of the road."

He smirked at her response, expecting nothing less from her, "Yes well. We can't help our situations."

Another noise from her throat told the seeker she was thinking about her next question, "So this bonding thing. It's different from trine bonds?"

"It is." The jet said slowly, not sure where she was going with her question.

"How are they formed then? If trine bonds are instinct, how do bonded become bonded?" There was no malice in her eyes, just pure curiosity. It felt a bit like explaining to a youngling how interfacing worked.

He cleared his throat, sounding a little awkward as he did. Callie kept her curious expression on him, having no idea what she had just asked, "Well...we. We expose our sparks to each other and perform a spark merge." He paused there when he realised that she had no idea what a spark merge was, "We bring our sparks together, and allow thoughts, feelings and memories be exposed to each other."

"Oh. Does this spark merging always lead to a bond?"

If Thundercracker could have blushed, he would have. His faceplates, however, did rapidly heat to the point that the metal of his face pinged and popped with the sudden flux in temperature, "No." He told her eventually, trying to keep his mortification to a minimum, "It can also be used as a...highly pleasurable experience."

"Oh." She said, looking up as she thought about it and the seeker could practically see the cogs turning in her head. "OH!" she suddenly exclaimed, "So I just asked you about the bird and the bees didn't I?"

"The birds and the what?"

"Birds and the bees. It's a G rated way of talking about sex." Callie said, no sham on her face, while Thundercracker's burned.

"We call it interfacing." He murmured quietly, not quite believing he was having this conversation.

Her dark eyes glanced down to his thighs, "So I'm curious. Is it the only way you can interface?"

Thundercracker didn't think his face could get any hotter, "Spark merging is not the only way. We have other equipment. No I will not elaborate!"

Callie smirked, but raised her hands in surrender, "Okay, okay. No more interface talk." She dropped her hands back to her sides, still smirking at him, "How does a bond happen then?"

Taking several long, deep intakes of air, Thundercracker told her, "In order to form a bond, both parties must open their core to each other. It's that part of us that is the best and worst of who we are. If one party cannot accept what they see when it comes to our worst crimes, a bond will not be formed."

"So you literally share everything when you open the core to yourselves?" Callie asked, amazed at the show of trust to another.

"There are no secrets in a bond. You may keep them for a while, but they will come out eventually in a spark merge."

"Wow." Another pause from the human, "Can it happen by accident?"

"You would have to be either very much in the throes of passion or very dumb to do that. But yes, it can happen by accident. The bond can be undone," Thundercracker said, guessing her next question, "but it is not a pleasant experience. However, I have heard that most couples that bond accidently stay with the bonded. After all, that mech or femme has already seen your very worst and accepted it. I would image that it would be very hard to dissolve that."

Callie nodded, her eyes now on his chest plates, "So you can actually have your spark come out of your body?"

"We can, but it is protected by our spark chamber." He told her, giving her a shrewd look and not liking the curious light in her eyes.

"Can I see it?"

Frowning at her, he asked, "See what?"

"Your spark. Can I see it?"

His dark servos instantly came to his cock pit, his processor taking her innocent question as a threat. One did not _just_ show another their spark, it was not done like that. Thundercracker found that he couldn't be completely angered by her question though, where else would she have seen or even heard of a spark.

"You understand that many of my species would take that as a threat, that you do not just bare your spark to someone. It is more than just a body part to us, and it is inappropriate to ask such a question."

Callie's eyes shot from his servos to his face, regret and shock easily passed over her face. Her reaction soothed his temper a little; she had not meant to offend him. Her eyes stayed on his cool face, "I'm sorry Thundercracker. I didn't mean to insult you."

Her eyes dropped again back to her knees. Thundercracker huffed a sigh and lowered his servos from his chest to sit them in his lap. "It's fine Callie. It's not completely your fault. A spark is just a very sensitive matter and you must always be careful to whom you bare it do. It is the easiest way for us to die."

He sighed again, not believing what he was doing as his chest plates slid apart. Gears caught because of his crash, causing Callie's small head to snap back up to his chest, "I will show you once to sate your curiosity." He told her gruffly. "But promise that you will _not_ ask another Cybertronion that question. It could get you killed if you asked the wrong one."

Callie said nothing, too worried about disrupting the gentle moment between them and merely nodded her head dumbly. His chest plates slide apart and his spark chamber opened, revealing his silver and gold spark, small flecks of black from all the terrible things he had done marred his once perfect life force.

Callie's eyes widened as silver light pooled from his chest, making her pixy face glow. She reined in the urge to touch the shimmering light, knowing that what she was seeing was already something she should not be seeing.

Just as quickly as he opened his chest panels, his spark retreated back into the safety of its spark housing and his cock-pit panels slid back together. Darkness filled in where the light from the seekers spark had once been, and it was Callie who spoke first, "You have a beautiful spark TC."

Giving a gentle snort, the seeker quietly replied, "Skywarp says the same thing. But really, it's not. There is so much darkness within it."

As her eyes re-adjusted to the darkness, Callie looked back up to his faceplates, "What do you mean darkness."

"The black flecks are all the wrongs I've committed that has damaged my spark." It was another way of saying 'damaged me' and Thundercracker was again surprised by how much he was willing to tell the human.

Callie moved her foot to lean it against his shoulder vent in which he could only guess was an attempt to comfort, "We do what we have to, to survive. It doesn't make you any less whole or damaged. Your spark is still beautiful Thundercracker."

"War damages us." He said quietly, not meeting her gaze.

"It will. But just remember, your spark is still gold and silver. The darkness hasn't won completely."

The seeker gave her a surprised look, to which Callie only grinned and shrugged, "I've had this conversation with Danny many a time."

"I take it your little car thief cousin has had to do more than just steal cars?"

"She has. But that's for another night I think."

Nodding Thundercracker looked back up to the night sky, feeling oddly better about the situation.

"Will I need to change the clamps tomorrow?" she asked quietly, and the seeker disliked the warmth that continued to spread though out his spark. He gave her a nod, "I should also have more diesel tonight. My systems are beginning to drain again."

Nodding, Callie slipped onto the offered hand to the ground and got the liquid that would give him enough energy to make it to L.A. She removed the cap for him and held the new jerry can up for him to drink from.

Finishing both jerry cans of diesel, he told her to return to sleep as he settled in on his side and waited for the shakes to start. Callie snorted at him, "Like that's going to happen. I saw what happened the last time you drank diesel. That went really well."

He grinned at the return of her sarcasm, it meant that she was returning back to her normal state of mind. As she leaned against his arm to help him through the diesel's backlash, he couldn't help but remember an Earth saying; like calls to like.

It was true, he realised. Bumblebee was a happy go lucky Autobot and his human charge, Sam, was a happy go lucky kid. Callie and her family may not have been as scared as he was, but they were scared by life none the less. Perhaps that was the reason for his need to protect her, just as Bumblebee had a need to protected Sam. It was a frightening thought, to think that such a small and pitiful race could have so much in common with them.

As his frame began to shake and Callie's small hands ran over his heating armour, Thundercracker found he didn't care too much about the reasons why he found himself being concerned with her well being and feelings. Perhaps, he thought to himself before all coherent thought was driven away, it was because she had the courage to care first.

()()()

**TBC...**


	7. The Secrets we try to Keep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you to my super-cool beta, Brighter Than The Sun, Sunny. As always, you rock my socks.

**Important Information**

"..." Speaking

:...: comm. link

' _ **...'**_ bonded speech

'...' thinking

 **Astrosecond** \- 2.5 earth Seconds

 **Klik** \- 150 earth seconds/ 2.5 earth Minutes

 **Orn** \- 150 earth minutes/ 2.5 earth Hours

 **Joor** \- 60 earth hours/2.5 earth Days

 **Metacycle** \- 17.5 earth days/2.5 earth Weeks

 **Vorn** \- 10 earth weeks/2.5 earth months

 **Stellercycle** -30 earth months/2.5 years

 **Breem** -slang for a moment/minute.

 **Night Cycle** : star down to star up

 **Day Cycle** : Star up to star down

 

 **Disclaimer** : I own only my OC's, nothing else.  
()()()

High powered, V-12 engines roared down highway I-15 in the dead of night. The vehicles that pushed their engines into the red were nothing but a blur of red and gold as they tore down the empty highway, each determined to reach their destination first. While many miles behind them, a dark green jeep tried desperately to catch up, but its eight cylinder engine was no match for the twelve pistons that pumped vigorously within the twin Lamborghinis.

To say that Sunstreaker was aggravated was an understatement. Enraged or infuriated came close to what he was feeling at the moment, but even that couldn't describe the unbridled anger he was feeling.

Behind him, his twin followed close sending bolts of calm to him over the bond, _**'You need to calm down Sunstreaker.'**_

He managed to snarl at his twin, despite being in his Alt form, _**'Don't tell me to calm down! We've spent three slagging days driving down the wrong fragging road looking for that blasted seeker! When I get my servos on him, I'm going to rip his other wing off!'**_

The crimson twin sighed, _**'That's fine. But we need to slow down and let Hound catch up.'**_

' _ **Catch up! It was his fault we spent three days going down the wrong slagging road!'**_ The golden twin snarled.

Sideswipe sighed and if he had not been flying down the highway, he would have sagged in aggravation. When the three Autobots had come to the junction between I-80 and I-76 three days ago, they had no indication of which way the seeker had gone in.

Acting on a hunch, Hound had chosen to head down I-80 in search for the missing seeker. For three days they had felt and found nothing and the golden twin had begun to become more and more aggravated with the lack of progress.

Then, just as the trio was coming to Salt Lake City and losing hope of finding Thundercracker, they felt it. A pulse of a spark, but it was faint and far away. Almost as though it had been removed from its spark chamber and out of the range of a spark dampener; it had been a small blip on the radar, but it gave Hound a direction to go in.

The tracker guessed that the seeker had actually gone down I-76 first which later became I-70. So long as the seeker stayed on I-70 they could head him off if they took I-15 south. However, if they didn't catch him on I-70, Thundercracker would be forced to take I-15 south from that junction, and they could lose him again.

That was all Sunstreaker had needed to know. He had sped off into the night, flying down I-15, determined to catch the seeker this time. He didn't care that they had left Hound behind, he only cared to find Thundercracker, and team work be damned!

Late into the fourth day, Sunstreaker screamed out his unrestrained rage when he and Sideswipe had found droplets of energon along I-70, but no seeker. The energon was still wet, indicating they had just missed the blue slagger and with no other trail to point to which direction he had gone in, the twins were forced to wait for Hound to catch up and interpret the trail.

The golden twin howled in rage as dark clouds moved in over head.

()()()

Completely unaware that she was courting the golden twin's rage, Callie finally broke for camp along I-15 many hours later. They had stopped just past the north-eastern boarder of Nevada, after passing through the north-western boarder of Arizona.

Dark, angry storm clouds seemed to follow the trio as they worked their way south-west, coming ever closer to their destination. Thundercracker leaned against the horse trailer as he watched the dark clouds roll in, and he could feel the storm in the air surrounding him. He desperately wished to be able to fly amongst those clouds, to feel the electricity in the air skirt over his wings as he floated with the air currents.

He quickly pushed those thoughts away, squashing the feelings of loss at the loss of his wing and his ability to fly. Soon, a few more days and he would be back on base and repaired. A small shifting on his knee drew his attention back to Lucy.

The small girl was looking at the sky nervously and he could sense her unease and anxiety. The blue jet could literally smell her fear as her dark blue eyes focused on the skies above.

Sighing, Thundercracker scolded himself even as he asked, "What's wrong Lucy?"

She turned her gaze from the sky to the Decepticon she was currently using as a seat. In a small, worried voice, she muttered, "I don't like storms. They scare me."

He tipped his gaze back to the sky, trying to see it from her point of view, "You have nothing to worry about Lucy. It's only loud noises and rain."

"But loud noises and rain can lead to bad things." She said quietly, hunching into herself.

The Decepticon sighed and looked back down. "You have nothing to worry about. I will not let anything happen to you."

"You promise?"

"I promise." He replied gruffly before he realised what he had said. He didn't make promises at all, promises were just hollow words that meant nothing, and he was angry with himself for saying such words. He was annoyed and confused with himself for this sudden and strong attachment to the humans; they were changing him far too much. Starscream would notice the change right away and would demand to know what had caused it.

However, when Lucy beamed up at him, her small face alight with trust to her large guardian, Thundercracker felt marginally better. He had decided last night that he would not allow any harm to come to these girls by Decepticon servos, he owed them at least that.

Callie came around the front of the truck with a frown, her own gaze on the sky, "I think it's going to rain." She mentioned, acting as though nothing odd had happened the night before and Thundercracker was secretly impressed that nothing as of yet had thrown her off her game. Considering how she had spent the majority of her adulthood though, it shouldn't have been that much of a surprise.

Following Callie's lead, Thundercracker made a noise of agreement, again he longed to be in the skies, "Weren't you suppose to be home yesterday?"

Callie came to stand beside his knee, not worried or afraid to be so close, "I should've been, yes. I'll need to call Danny and let her know we're okay."

Thundercracker nodded, not taking his optics from the sky as Callie's dark blue eyes slid to his face, "You miss not being able to fly?"

The seeker shrugged, "I do. But I will be back on base soon, where I will be repaired."

Lucy continued to watch the darkening skies, humming to herself happily from Thundercracker's knee, innocently oblivious to her sister's sudden sad frown. Callie nodded, "Of course," she paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts, "When you go home. Are we... Are we going to be able to see you again?"

He looked to Callie then, not liking the hopeful look on her small face. He could never see her again, that was a given, but he also didn't want to have to tell her such. Instead his wing drooped along his back, "You had better call home Callie. No need to worry your cousin." he muttered.

Her slim shoulders drooping, Callie muttered, "Right. Of course." She dropped her gaze before heading back to the truck's cab. Thundercracker tried to squash the rising guilt, instead focusing on the fact that his trine mates needed him to get home. These girls had survived this long, and they would be fine without him.

But as Lucy continued to smile up at him, humming her little song, he couldn't shake the guilt that he would have to leave them soon. Part of him wondered what would happen to the girls if Megatron ever won their war, and quickly come to the conclusion that they would most likely end up dead.

Another wave of guilt hit the seeker at that thought as he refocused his red optics on Lucy as she continued to hum her song, oblivious to the fact that he was part of the group that would end her world.

Callie pulled herself into the cab of the truck with a deep sigh. She draped her arms around her steering wheel with a frown. She liked Thundercracker even though he aggravated her so much, sort of like an older brother or a protector. A friend.

She hadn't had a friend in such a long time, not since Vegas, and she really didn't want to surrender that friendship. Really though, it shouldn't have surprised her as much as it did that she would have to let that friendship go. He was, after all, an alien that had dragged his war to her planet. He would have to go back to that war eventually, back to Starscream and Skywarp.

For a moment, she was jealous of the two mechs. They would get to see Thundercracker for the rest of their lives but she quickly tramped those feelings down. She could tell that Thundercracker loved his trine mates, and she wouldn't make it any worse for the seeker. No doubt they were worrying about him, even now.

Maybe she could convince him to come visit once in a while. Bring Starscream and Skywarp with him so that they could escape the war, for just a little while.

Sighing again, Callie reached for her phone and punched in her cousin's number. The phone rang once, before Danny's angry voice snapped over the phone, "Where the fuck are you!"

Callie groaned, but was unsurprised by her cousin's reaction. Danny always snapped or exploded when she was worried or angry, but once that initial irritation passed, she was much calmer, "We're fine, how are you?" Callie asked evenly despite her sarcasm, hoping that her own calmness would rub off onto her cousin.

When she heard the irritated snarl, Callie knew that wouldn't happen, "Where are you?" Danny asked again, her voice lowering.

"We're camping along I-15, we just got into Nevada." Callie answered, shrugging even though her cousin couldn't see her.

There was a pause over the phone, and Callie knew that Danny was calculating the distance between her location and L.A. Eventually Danny snarled, "Are you fucking kidding me! Why are you not closer to home, you should be closer than that!" The blonde heard her cousin pull the phone from her face and shout ' _shit!_ ' before bringing the phone back to her ear with a huff.

Callie straightened up, suddenly on alert. Her cousin should have calmed once she knew that she and Lucy were okay, she shouldn't be on the verge of panicking, "Danny, what's wrong?" her own voice was cool and firm.

"Oh, now you want to know what the hell is happening here? You should already be here, not camping on fucking I-15!" came the snarling voice over the phone.

Another red flag went up in Callie's head; swearing was not uncommon with Danny, but even this was a little extensive, "Daniela, what's going on? What's wrong?"

Danny sighed and Callie could practically see her cousin deflating with that sigh, "We have a bit of a problem." She said quietly, her voice returning to its normal tempo now that her anger was dissipating.

Dread suddenly filled Callie as she thought of her younger cousins. Danny would never allow anything to happen to them, but what else could cause such a reaction from Danny, "The younger girls?"

"Are fine. I've told them to stay close to home." Danny answered, suddenly sounding very tired and this served only to increase Callie's alarm.

"Danny," Callie put as much as a warning into her voice as she could. She wanted information and she wanted it now, "What kind of problem are we dealing with."

There was a tense pause from her cousin, "A Boston kind of problem."

Callie groaned and dropped her face into her hand, "Are you kidding me?" she suddenly hissed.

When Danny didn't respond, Callie cursed, "God damn it Danny! What did I tell you? What did I tell you!" she snapped at her cousin, "I told you not to take that job! I told you!"

Danny sighed, "I know." She stressed, "However that doesn't change the fact that we have a problem here now."

Callie sighed, and no longer was she Lucy's big sister. Nor was she Callie the farm girl or the horse owner. She had dropped back into her street hellion mode; survival of her family was what mattered. Nothing else.

It was a mode she had been hoping she would never have to sink back into again, "How bad is our problem?"

"Four men, moderately armed." Danny responded, years of growing up amongst thugs coming to the fore front of her mind like training.

"Have they found the garage?"

"Not yet, they've only spotted me in public areas. I've been careful to lead them to dead ends." She responded coldly.

"How do you know you're being tailed?"

Danny sighed over the phone before her sarcastic answer came, "Had a hunch that was proven correct when they shot at me."

Callie sighed, leaning back into her seat, "Do we need to move?"

"Their pretty desperate to catch up with me, we may not have a choice." Danny sighed.

"There's always a choice, we just may not like our choices." Callie responded gently, "Lucy was so happy to be in L.A too. She really wanted to stay there."

"I know." Danny said, her disappointment in herself bleeding through, "But even if I take care of this little issue, _they'll_ only send more."

Callie groaned and pinched at her forehead, "I know, I know. Look, we'll be home tomorrow. Can you keep dancing around them for that long?"

Danny snorted, her confidence shining through, "Of course I can lead them around until then. Should be cake."

"Everything is 'cake' to you!" Callie snapped as feelings of guilt twisted her gut; she hated the fact that they were going to have to move Lucy again. All she wanted was a better life for the girl, "Alright. I'll see you soon. Be careful in the mean time."

Danny snorted, "I will. Watch yourself out there, I don't like you two being out there on your own."

"I know, but if you _had_ come with us, the other three would be on their own with four psycho's after them." Callie told her.

Danny hummed, "True. I still don't like it though."

Callie snorted, "I have no doubt. I'll see you soon."

"Yeah... I'll talk to you soon Callie. Be safe." Danny said and Callie could practically hear the cog's turning in her cousin's head as she began figuring out how she was going to lead a group of angry gangsters around L.A for the next day.

"Be safe Danny." Callie said quietly, then the cousins disconnected the call, having nothing else to say to each other.

Old feelings of familiar dread settled in Callie's stomach; this is what she had hated when they worked Vegas. She hated worrying. Hated not knowing if or when their home would suddenly be showered in bullets or one of her young cousins would be used as bait to lure Danny out of hiding.

She was sick of it, which was the reason they had gone straight after Boston. No more bad guys, bullets, or threats. Why was that so damn hard? However, Callie took a deep breath and pushed those feelings away, squashing them before they took any more hold of her mind.

She would deal with the Boston issue when they got to L.A and got Thundercracker back to his base. Then, _then_ she and Danny would figure something out. Until then, Callie knew the seeker and the little girl needed her attention.

Giving herself a hard shake, attempting to dislodge her street savvy mode from her mind, Callie slipped from the truck's cab. She couldn't let Lucy know something was wrong, she had to keep up the illusion that everything was fine and that when they got home nothing would change. Things would change, however, the moment they stepped foot in L.A., everything would change.

First Callie had to find some way to deal with finding Thundercracker's trine and getting him home, and then she would have to deal with the fall out of the Boston problem. Lucy was going to be so upset that they would have to move again, and she didn't look forward to telling the girl such. Callie snorted to herself as she thought, 'I should make Danny do it. This is her fault anyways, let her deal with Lucy for once.'

Another bitter sigh left the thin blond as she approached Thundercracker, trying her best to appear as though nothing bad was occurring back home. However, the seeker took one look at her pinched and worried face, and knew that something was wrong.

"Everything okay?" he asked gruffly, no longer bothering to scold himself for asking. She had already seen too much, there was no point in feeling guilty anymore.

Dark blue eyes fell on to Lucy before sliding back to Thundercracker, "Yes." she said tightly, "Everything's fine."

Narrowing his red optic on her, Thundercracker scowled. She was lying and he didn't like that fact, "Callie, I need you to change the clamps today," he said instead, "Lucy can you fetch them from the truck?"

Callie narrowed her own eyes on him as Lucy looked up with a smile. Glad that she could help, the nine year old slid from his knee to the ground and bolted for the truck. Knowing he didn't have a lot of time, Thundercracker didn't beat around the bush with his question, "What's going on Callie?"

The human glared up at him for a moment, before she eventually said. "There's a problem back home." she paused for a moment, already anticipating what his next question would be, "Some bad people from Boston have managed to track us down to L.A."

"What kind of bad people?" the seeker asked slowly.

Callie ran her tongue over her teeth as she considered what to tell him, and decided that the truth was the best course of action. 'Besides,' she thought to herself, 'He'll know if I'm lying.'

"Do you remember when I told you that Danny's last job was in Boston?"

"I do." Thundercracker said, slowly, hesitantly.

"The job was simple enough. She was hired by a gang leader to steal a rival gang leaders car. A dark blue Mercedes, and bring it to them. Whether or not there was anything in the car, I have no idea and Danny won't tell me. But the gang leader paid her a lot of money to do it." Callie sighed, "The one she stole the car from has managed to track her down. Sent some people to...find her." She blurted out the information quickly, Lucy would return soon enough.

Narrowing his working optic further, Thundercracker glared hard at her, "How did they find her?"

Callie shrugged as her usually happy expression melted into a dark, cold scowl, "People talk. Alliances change, that's my guess. It's happened before, so it's not that big of a surprise." Her hand whirled loosely in the air, as though she were discussing the weather.

Thundercracker frowned then, not liking the implications of what she said, "What are they going to do?"

Her blue eyes flashed at him angrily, "She stole a gangster's very expensive car. What do you think they're going to do?"

The seeker blinked at her before anger took over other all senses. A sudden need to protect the girls and destroy all threats arose from within the seeker, and he snarled inhumanly before he calmed enough to speak, "They will not hurt you." His voice was low, cold and promised violence. He surprised himself when he meant every word.

Pit, he'd just tell Skywarp that _those_ humans were okay to destroy if he couldn't do it himself, but they would not touch Callie or Lucy. However, Thundercracker's over protective reaction brought a semi humoured smile to her small face. It was slightly endearing to have him worry like that, "Now you sound like Danny." And that fact brought some comfort to the human.

The truck's door slammed shut as Lucy jumped from the cab, and Callie threw a tense look to the small girl, "She can't know."

Nodding, Thundercracker forced his faceplates to smooth out into a calm look. He had practised the art so many times back on the Nemesis that it was second nature to him. "I shall help preserve her sense of innocents in this matter. But what are you going to tell her?"

His crimson optic on the small, smiling blond as she skipped to her sister, the bag of new clams swinging from her small wrist. Callie slumped, curling into herself slightly in her worry, and as she opened her mouth to reply, a loud crash of thunder shook the ground.

Lucy froze at the sudden _crack-boom_ of the thunder, her small eyes widening and her heart pounding hard in her tiny chest. Thundercracker could literally smell the fear that suddenly oozed from her tiny frame, and it bothered him to think that he had once enjoyed causing that same reaction in other humans.

Well, other humans could rot in the Pit; just because he cared about Callie and Lucy didn't mean he had to care for their species.

A flash of lighting made Lucy shriek in fear, causing her to drop her bag of tools and make a beeline straight for her protector. She rocketed past her sister who just sighed with a shake of her head, instead opting to curl tightly into Thundercracker's dark blue thigh. Her small body trembled against the metal armour of his thigh as she buried her face into a transformation seam.

His first reflex was to tense and wait for an attack, but he forced himself to calm. His frame slowly relaxed as he wrapped a dark servo around her trembling body, fighting the urge to coo at her. Callie sighed again and retrieved the bag of supplies as the first drops of rain began to fall. As the cool water fell from the sky, Callie looked sadly up to the seeker, "Come on. Let's get you into the trailer before it really starts to rain, I doubt your wiring will appreciate the water."

Nodding, the seeker slowly got to his shaky pedes and firmly ignored the warning signs that blared angrily in his helm. He swept those warnings away like old cob webs, gently picking Lucy up. Holding her close to his chest, in a quiet, but harsh voice the seeker murmured, "It's alright Lucy. Nothing is going to happen to you."

He then slowly walked to the back of the trailer as Callie gathered up the tools she would need to replace the clamps, and he couldn't help but wonder what these little humans were doing to him.

()()()

_It was dark were she was. The darkness was almost suffocating as it compressed her small body from all sides._

_From the darkness, angry voices were yelling and shouting; angry bolts of words were thrown back and forth between the voices. She recognized all those voices, knew that she should have been able to trust those voices, but something was wrong. Something was off and it scared her._

_She curled her small body into a tiny ball as tears streaked down her pale face; a strangled gasp from her cousin, her strong, fierce cousin Danny, caused her to whimper in the dark. More screaming and crashing caused her to sob brokenly into her hands._

_Silence. All the noise stopped abruptly, leaving her small and alone in the darkness. Bright red blood suddenly lit the area, flowing ever so slowly to her curled position. It was warm and sticky as it seeped into the rough carpet beneath her, covering her small legs and hands in the life giving substance of her species._

_A noise alerted her to the fact she was not alone; slow, even_ thud, thud, thud _of steps came ever closer to her now shaking body. She knew she should run, should try to get away. But he always caught her, no matter how hard, fast or long she ran. He always caught her._

_Resigned to her fate, she lifted her small head from her blood covered hands to look up to the shadow that stood over her. Dark brown eyes stated down at her with evil intent; dark brown hair was shaggy around the head and perfectly even teeth could be seen from a grinning mouth. He would have been hansom, with his lean face and high cheek bones, if not for the blood that stained his pale skin that is._

_The man just grinned down at her; a sharp blade in his hand was covered in bright red blood. His grin still plastered across his handsome face, he raised the blade, his dark eyes focused on her at all times and she knew he enjoyed this. With a flash of silver, the blade swooped down to her small, soft body..._

Lucy shot up in the back seat of the truck and clamped her small hands over her mouth to stifle the scream that rose violently from her throat. She managed to chock it down as silent tears slid down her small face; pain that was too deep, too sever for a nine year old assaulted the girl as bad memories played endless loops in her head.

On nights like these, she would often crawl into bed with Danny, knowing that nothing would hurt her as long as her cousin was there, but the noise of Danny gasping for air caused fresh tears to fall from her blue eyes.

In the front seat Callie was sound asleep after patching up Thundercracker's side as best she could. After throwing the ruined clamps outside, the girls had stayed with him while the storm howled outside, keeping the seeker company until it was time for bed. Lighting flashed outside the safety of the truck, causing the little girl to flinch. Callie murmured in her sleep, her hands clutching at nothing but seeking a weapon. No doubt the older of the two was having nightmares of the same night.

Knowing her sister needed her sleep, but wanting comfort, Lucy carefully crawled over the sprawled form of her sister and carefully opened the passenger side door. Her small heart hammered in her chest as mind numbing fear from her nightmare nearly crippled the girls progress; but she was a McCormick damn it, and she stomped on her fear just as Danny had taught her-taught all of them- and stomped out into the rainy night.

She slowly closed the door of the truck, making sure it clicked closed softly so not to wake her sleeping sister. Tears and rain mingled on her small face, as she made a bare foot dash for the back of the open trailer. She sobbed softly when she spotted Thundercracker's pede sticking out from the opening and she scaled the ledge as quickly as she could. Coming in from the rain, she stood shivering by the seekers black ankle.

"TC?" she called out to the recharging seeker who had managed to wrap his arms around his waist covering the wound in his side while he lay on the opposite side. His intakes took in breaths of air easily and his optic was dark as he slumbered.

Nearly sobbing, Lucy called out again, "TC, please wake up." her small voice wavered as she pressed her tiny hands to his massive ankle, "Please."

The soft whine was enough to jerk Thundercracker from his recharge cycle and it took him a moment to realise what had woken him. Onlining his optic, vision a little blurry as sluggish systems tried to boot up, the seeker crocked out, "Lucy? Wha-what's going on?"

He tried to sit up and quickly realized that he couldn't, remembering where he was and instead he shifted around a little to better see the girl; he moved his arm that was pinned between his frame and the trailer so that it bent at the elbow and his servo tucked under his helm. His other arm rested along his side as he lay with his wingless side pressing painfully into the floor of the trailer. Taking a good look at the girl, he felt something twist in his tanks. She wore the same tearful expression Skywarp did when he had a bad memory purge and it made him as ill now as it did when he saw his mate in such a state.

Sighing inwardly, Thundercracker managed to lift his outer arm up as to offer a safe for her to break down. Lucy sobbed and crawled over the damaged seeker's frame, working her way up to his chest. She finally came to crumple against his damaged blue chest plates, curled on the light blue upper arm that was trapped beneath him, and sobbed into the warm armour.

He lowered his other arm to wrap around her as best as he could without hurting her, enveloping Lucy's small form in his metal armour, protecting her from the outside world. She was shivering from the cold and her wet cloths as she sobbed out her fear and hurt into the Decepticon. Thundercracker lay quietly with her, allowing her to get out whatever was upsetting her, silently increasing his internal temperatures in an attempt to warm her small form.

He firmly ignored his own unease in favour of trying to comfort her, quietly clicking to her in seeker cant as he would with Skywarp. She couldn't understand what he was saying, but seemed to calm at hearing his voice. Her hard sobbing slowly dissipated into soft hiccupping, tears still streaming down her small face.

"What's wrong Lucy?" he managed, trying to keep his voice soft.

Garbled, non-sensible words fell from the girls mouth, "I, he. B-blood. Bad m-man." and she dissolved back into tears before she could get any more out than that.

The seeker frowned; running his black pinkie digit down the small girls back in what he hoped was comfort. Deciding that asking Lucy again who the bad man was would be unproductive he opted for a different question, "Did you have a memory purge?"

Lightning flashed outside, but with her face buried into the blue armour, Lucy didn't see it light the dark skies. She did, however, cry out in fear when a boom of thunder shook the trailer. He cooed at her until she calmed enough to speak again, "I, I-I don't know what a m-memory p-p-purge is."

It took the seeker a moment to think about what humans would call a memory purge, "A bad...memory?"

With her face still pressed into his side, Thundercracker could feel the girl nod against him, murmuring some form of agreement. Huffing, the seeker firmly told her, "It's just a memory. It's like the rain, it can't hurt you."

"Y-yes it can." Lucy's wobbly voice responded, her small body shaking with fear.

Frowning at the small girl, Thundercracker thought about asking her more, then thought better of it. Instead he curled her small form closer to his frame and went back to clicking at her in his native tongue, calming her as best he could. She slowly dropped back into an uneasy sleep, and again the seeker was unnerved by how much like Skywarp she really was. Shaking those thoughts from his helm, Thundercracker settled back down and began to re-engage his own recharge protocols.

His optic was just beginning to cycle down as recharge began to claim him when the driver's door of the truck suddenly slammed shut and Callie's panicked voice screamed out "LUCY!" over the harsh wind and rain.

"LUCY!" She screamed out again, causing the small girl to twitch and her small face scrunched up at the disturbance of her newly found sleep.

Thundercracker sighed heavily, knowing he was never getting back to recharge at this rate. 'Might as well get more information from Callie.' he grumbled to himself, 'not getting back to recharge now anyway.'

He could hear Callie taking a deep breath in order to scream out Lucy's name again, and not wanting the girl to wake, Thundercracker called out to the taller blonde. "She's in here."

Lucy squirmed deeper into his side, groaning as if in pain in her sleep at the sudden noise of his voice. Thundercracker cringed at that, not wanting to wake the girl. He heard Callie's frantic steps and harsh breathing through the walls of the trailer as she bolted for the open doors. Her small blonde head suddenly appeared at the mouth of the trailer, her look of panic melted into relief when she spotted the dark form of her sister curled into the seeker.

Callie pulled herself up into the trailer, not bothering to wait for an invitation, and climbed over the seekers battered frame. Thundercracker, with great patience, allowed the touches until Callie knelt beside her no longer missing sister. Sagging in relief and pressing her hand to her sister's cheek, needing to touch the girl to assure herself that she was there, alive. The older blonde sighed again in relief when she felt her sister's cool, but warming cheek.

Turning to lean her back against Thundercracker's chest, Callie dropped her head into her hands. The seeker sighed and shook his helm as her small body began to shake, "She knows better than to run off like that." She snarled.

"She was just scared." Thundercracker reasoned, hoping to calm Callie.

"She knows better than to leave the truck at night." Callie snarled back.

The seeker sighed; he was far too tired to deal with an irate human. Time to change tactics, "Who's the 'bad man'?"

Much to the jet's surprise she tensed again his chassis. In a low, cool voice she asked, "What did Lucy tell you?"

"Nothing, just said something about a bad man. Don't suppose it has to do with what you left out last night, does it?" The seeker asked lightly, rain still falling hard from the sky.

Callie didn't answer, just scowled at her knees in silence. That worried Thundercracker more than anything, his little human always had something smart to say, "Does it?" he asked again, with a little more force.

Callie sighed, not lifting her head from her hands. Quietly she said "The bad man was George Soomac." She paused for a moment, "His brother is Denis Soomac. They were the ones who started the car theft ring. Danny only trusted them because Denis and I were friends."

"What happened?" Thundercracker asked, not quite demanding.

Callie shrugged, "There were six of us at the time, the best of the best, the elite." She looked up as if to recall the names of her old crew, using her fingers to count the names off, "There was Denis, George, Danny, Ronnie Bulat, Mac Trus, and Frank Hiller."

She exhaled slowly, still not facing the seeker, "For four years they worked mostly in Vegas, but did work in throughout L.A. as well. The cops were always after them, always suspecting them but could never prove it. The cops hated them because of it. They knew they were thieves but could never, ever prove it."

She shook her head again, "Things were going good for us, for once. We had more than enough money to survive, the horses were paid for." She gave a gentle snort.

From his uncomfortable position, Thundercracker asked, "What went wrong then?"

Callie snorted again, her left hand, running her thumb over her ring finger. "George and Denis got greedy. They figured that if we were all out of the way, they would get a bigger piece of the pie, sort of speak."

She shook her head, her blonde hair tumbling around her head, "They never did think that the others did the work too. With just two of them stealing cars, they would never have been able to achieve as much as we did as a group."

"We all had our own houses, different safe houses. Denis and George in one, Mac, Frank and Ronnie in another and us girls in the third...George came over one night, but that wasn't uncommon. We always hung out you see."

The girl paused for a moment, and Thundercracker had a bad feeling in his tanks. It wasn't going to end well. "Danny answered the door and George walked in and...just. Tried to eviscerate her. Took a knife and cut her hip to hip."

The seeker blinked down at her, stunned by the revaluation, "He what?"

"Tried to eviscerate her." She repeated, staring blankly at the wall, "It was a miracle that she survived. He literally missed her internal organs by a hairs width."

"He what!" Thundercracker snarled again, his systems raising to a battle ready state.

Callie slapped at the upper arm she was sitting on, "Shh! You'll wake Lucy."

Both the Decepticon and the human looked at the uneasily slumbering girl.

Forcing himself to calm, Thundercracker growled, "What happened?"

Callie shrugged, her dark blue eyes staring blankly at the wall, "I remember her falling in vivid detail, how she fell into the coffee table and knocked over a ceramic lamp. Stupid thing broke."

Her small body shuttered against her chest, "He went after me next. With Danny out of the way, I was the next threat. I really don't remember much of the struggle, I just remember hanging on to his hand with everything I was worth. I remember that Lucy was hiding behind the couch crying."

"Then Danny was there. I don't know how she did it, how she got up; she had to be in so much pain, she managed to stumble to where he had me pinned. But she was there. She...she used a broken piece of the lamp to slit his throat. He was so busy fighting with me that he never saw her stumbling up behind him. It was over so quick, but time seemed to stand still, to slow down."

She shook her head again, dropping her gaze, "Everything else was basically a blur, I just went to Danny and held her. She tried to speak, but she had lost so much blood. It was everywhere. Mia was holding Lucy and Aleyah...she was just staring into space from the shock of it all. I don't even remember who called the police." She paused for a moment, "Weird how you can remember something in perfect detail while others are just blurs of color."

Thundercracker understood though, battle was like that. He could remember in vivid detail every time Skywarp was shot down, but he could hardly remember the battle itself.

"Next thing I knew, the police were there, they were taking Danny to the hospital, and taking Lucy and Liz into foster care, they were both under age." Thundercracker didn't bother to ask what foster care was, he just let her keep going, "The last thing Danny told me before she couldn't speak any more was, 'check on the boys.' "

"So I sent Aleyah and Mia to a hotel to hide, and I went to the boys house." She looked down again, "When I got to Ronnie, Mac and Frank's place it was too late. Denis had...he did to them what George had tried to do to us. Their blood was everywhere. He just...there was no mercy from him."

Her blue eyes were haunted with memories of the past. "The only reason Denis didn't come after us, was because he was going to marry me in the fall, and apparently didn't have it in him to do it. So he sent George to murder us." Thundercracker froze at those words, he knew what marry meant, Skywarp had looked it up once out of curiosity.

"You're mate tried to deactivate you?" He snarled, his systems rising again to prepare for battle. There was no worse crime on Cyberton than to deactivate ones mate.

Her small shoulders shrugged, "Calm down."

The seeker snarled at her again, but his systems did cool down to a semi relaxed state, "What happened?" he snarled.

Callie smiled bitterly, "I called the police and they took me in for questioning."

"What! Why?"

"I was the one who found a murder scene, of course I was questioned." Her jaw shifted and waves of bitterness rolled off her, "Danny was in surgery, Liz and Lucy were in foster care and I was basically on my own. The other two were like nineteen. So I told the police everything I knew. About the car boosting ring, about George and how I thought it was Denis who murdered the others. I gave them absolutely everything," she paused before quietly adding, "I thought if I gave them enough information they would help us."

She pressed her fingers to her forehead, pressing into it to relive pressure, "Danny was out of surgery by the time they let me go. When I got to the hospital she was just waking up and all the officers were leaving. Denis was still out there, no doubt looking for us and they left us with no protection. They had the nerve to tell me that there was no money in the department for protection detail. They all looked so smug when they left, they knew who we were. What we did and how Danny had run circles around most of them for four years. They left us to our own devices."

Another sigh from the girl, and tears filled her eyes, her voice cracking, "They left us with no help at all."

She shook her head and sighed again, "But Danny was always one step ahead, always had a plan." Callie snorted as tears rolled down her cheeks, "Half delirious with the drugs they gave her, Danny told me to get Aleyah and Mia and go into hiding. Come back in a day, she told me."

"It took her six whole months to completely heal from that damned wound. But she managed to walk out of that hospital with no one noticing. She stole some close from another patient and managed to...just walk out. Took her a half hour to make a two minute walk, but she did it. We tracked down… well, _Liz_ tracked _us_ down with her computer and gave us her location."

"They separated Liz and Lucy. But Liz managed to keep track of her too, knew what foster home they put her in. Danny was too hurt to do anything, so I stole a car and drove to their locations. Technically I kidnapped both my little sister and baby cousin. But if Denis ever found them..."

"He would use them to bring you out of hiding." Thundercracker guessed.

"Right, and word on the street was that Denis was furious over his brother's death. Offered a lot of money to whomever brought Danny back to Vegas." She scrubbed at her face, firmly removing the tears from her checks.

"And you and your family have been on the run ever since." Thundercracker guessed quietly.

"Stealing cars to pay our way. We always boarded the horses at least two towns away. Until about a month ago, when we went straight."

The Decepticon blinked at her, a little stunned by her story. She snorted bitterly again, "Maybe that's why I can trust you Thundercracker. I mean, if my own species can hurt us like that what could you possibly do to us?"

A guilt so great that if he had been standing, Thundercracker would have dropped to his knees from the emotional backlash overcame him. Oh, he could do much worse than what her mate had done to her family. Like, perhaps, take over her world? Enslave her race? Small things like that.

What would she do when she figured out that it was the Decepticons who were going to take over her world, she would hate him. Hate everything he stood for, would hate his trine because of the things they would soon do. Strange how that seemed to bother him more than anything else.

He pushed those feelings aside as he settled his arm a little closer to her and Lucy, "Go back to recharge Callie, I shall guard you while you do." She may not have understood the implication of those words, but to a Decepticon it was a show of trust to allow someone to guard you while you were willingly vulnerable. It was the least he could do for her.

Sniffling, Callie leaned against his chest, pulling Lucy into a hug, "Thanks TC."

Her eyes slid shut as the seeker looked out of the trailer, rain still pouring from the sky, "You still worry that he will find you?"

"Every day, every night." She murmured gently as tears slid down her cheeks and the seeker wished she was larger so he could brush them away like he did with his mate.

"He will not hurt you again." He said firmly, almost like a vow that caused her to snort.

"You're going to be home by tomorrow, and I'll probably never see you again." Callie said sadly, and Thundercracker realised this is why she had no other friends she spoke of. It wasn't safe and she worried about betrayal. Like how he was going to betray her. If not this year, then maybe the next or whenever Megatron finally won the war.

Again, he shoved those thoughts away "I'll figure something out." He told her bitterly, knowing there was really only one way to save them.

As Callie began to drift into an uneasy sleep, she muttered, "Don't make promises you can't keep TC."

Sighing, Thundercracker redirected his attention back to the rain. He would guard her recharge as promised, it was the least he could do as she had unknowingly done it for him. He would find a way to protect her after he left, he was smart, he could find away.

As rain began to fall in heavy sheets, he swore that for at least the next few cycles he would protect her from harm.

()()()

Skywarp sat perched on his trine leader's berth while said leader lay curled in a tight ball of fear. Too afraid to touch him, the teleporter just sat next to Starscream's dark helm as he stared blankly at a wall, hoping that his presence would be enough. The usually proud and loud seeker was unnaturally quiet and still, as if too afraid to move. Afraid to draw attention to himself.

It had taken Hook more than half a joor to put Starscream back together again after Megatron was done with him, and since then the seeker hadn't moved from his berth. He hadn't even attempted to buff out the ugly silver weld marks that ran along his wings and chest. The abdominal plating that Hook had used was merely a cover while proper armour could be constructed. Skywarp couldn't help but wonder if Megatron had ordered Hook to do that on purpose, to leave his SIC in a state of vulnerability with weak metal protecting his internals.

Tentatively, Skywarp reached out to lay his servo on Starscream's helm and braced himself for an attack, or verbal lashing at the very least. However, there was absolutely no reaction from the older seeker, nothing. He just continued to stare blankly at the wall, having retreated deep into his mind for his own protection.

"Starscream?" the teleporter called quietly, hoping to bring his leader from his stupor, "Starscream, please." he whined.

The other seeker didn't blink, move, or even twitch. He just lay there, still as could be, frightening Skywarp. Starscream should be pacing and cursing, not laying still and broken, hiding in his quarters. Worry for his leader rose within the purple jet, and he tried to reach out to Starscream through the trine bonds, only to find the blocks were firmly in place. Perhaps even tighter clamped over the tri coloured seekers emotions than before.

Sighing, Skywarp reached out to take Starscream's servo but froze. Megatron was no doubt still watching them from cameras that were Primus knew where. Sighing in defeat, Skywarp pulled his servo back to his lap and just watched his broken leader, once again wishing that Thundercracker was back on the Nemesis.

()()()

TBC...

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts, feelings?


	8. Descent into Darkness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, a huge thank you to Brighter Than The Sun, Sunny, who did all the beta work for this chapter! Awesome job as always :D  
>  I also have a live journal account where I will be posting teasers for upcoming chapters. So if you'd like to take a look at what's coming up, I am under the same pen name, Acidgreenflames. The teaser for chapter nine should be up either tonight or tomorrow. Enjoy!

**Important Information**

"Blah" Speaking

:Blah: comm. link

' _ **Blah'**_ bonded speech

'Blah' thinking

 **Astrosecond** \- 2.5 earth Seconds

 **Klik** \- 150 earth seconds/ 2.5 earth Minutes

 **Orn** \- 150 earth minutes/ 2.5 earth Hours

 **Joor** \- 60 earth hours/2.5 earth Days

 **Metacycle** \- 17.5 earth days/2.5 earth Weeks

 **Vorn** \- 10 earth weeks/2.5 earth months

 **Stellercycle** -30 earth months/2.5 years

 **Breem** -slang for a moment/minute.

 **Night Cycle** : star down to star up

 **Day Cycle** : Star up to star down

 **Disclaimer** : I own only my OC's, nothing else.  
()()()

Hound came to a sudden stop, his black tires smoking and screeching along the asphalt of I-15. Following so closely to Hound's bumper, Sunstreaker nearly rammed into the back of his green alt form. The younger twin was forced to transform with a snarl to avoid yet another collision that would have destroyed his no longer perfect paint job. It was going to take him _days_ to buff out all the dings and scratches that had been done to his frame.

Standing high and tall behind the tracker, who had crouched down low to the wet road, Sunstreaker scowled down at him, "What the frag Hound! Are you trying to destroy my front end!" The gold twin snarled, his golden servos curled into tight fists.

From behind, the other Lamborghini, Sideswipe, transformed and sent a pulse of calmness to his brother. It was met with hostile rage as his twin silently fumed, glaring hard at the tracker, hoping he would spontaneously combust.

"I've got him." Hound said quietly, still not looking up to the twins.

The information seemed to sooth the frontliner's anger, "What do you mean, you've got him?"

Slowly standing, the smaller mech lifted something up. It was a small mangled hunk of twisted metal that was stained with dull purple energon, "We're just outside of Las Vegas. I doubt he will go to one of the smaller towns, too easy to be spotted. Too easy to be found out there, so there are really only two cities for him to hide in. Las Vegas or Los Angeles. That's where we'll find him."

Hound risked at glance at the twins face plates; Sideswipe looked pleased with a large grin plastered on his grey faceplates. Sunstreaker seemed to have calmed to a boil rather than the burning rage he had been feeling for the last few days.

"Great! We'll have our seeker soon and then we can go home, where Sunny can polish his sorry excuse of a paint job."

Sunstreaker's newly found calmness was quickly replaced with his simmering anger towards his brother, "Don't call me Sunny." He snarled, his lax servos curling back into tight fists, no doubt wanting to ram one into his brother's faceplates.

Sighing, Hound watched as Sideswipe laughed at his brother, and not for the first time the jeep wondered how he ended up on a mission with the twins. Clearing his intakes, Hound sighed, "We have to keep going guys. Thundercracker still has a pretty big lead on us and who knows _what_ he's doing to those poor humans."

His smooth, even voice calmed Sunstreaker enough so that he didn't kill his brother. Once again, he had something to focus on, something to distract his processor from the fact that dirt was grinding into his seams, "Then let's get a move on. The sooner we find Thundercracker, the sooner I can slag his pretty boy face plates."

The frontliner stepped around Hound before transforming back into his Alt form and sped off down the highway. The fact that he did not shove Hound out of the way, was not lost on the tracker and the green jeep knew it was only because he had given Sunstreaker something he hadn't had since the beginning of the mission.

Hope that it would soon be over.

Jumping to stand beside Hound, Sideswipe smirked at his brother's retreating form, yelling out, "HEY SUNNY! SINCE WHEN IS THUNDERCRACKER A PRETTY BOY!"

Hound sighed, giving the crimson twin a flat look, wondering if his brother could even hear him. Screeching breaks and smoke pluming up from under the golden frame told the jeep that he had indeed heard his twin.

Laughing, Sideswipe dropped down to his own alt form, speeding away from the tracker to torment his bother more. Hound sighed and again wondered how he had been the one to end up with the twins on a mission. It was nearly impossible to keep them focused with such large lulls of peace and quiet.

Dropping into his own, bulky alt mode, Hound tore after the twins, glad that they at least had kept the pace slow enough for him to keep up. The slower pace would allow Hound to keep his optics open for any more energon droplets that the seeker shed.

Soon, they would all be home and he could finally spend some quality time with Mirage. All he had to do was find Thundercracker.

()()()

Thundercracker scowled at the flashes of brown and grey that sped by the gap in the steel doors that was created by his massive ankles. The seeker was confused and felt betrayed by his own feelings.

He was already feeling guilty because of Skywarp and Starscream, those feelings of anxiety had not dissipated and the feelings of wrongness had only increased. Something bad had happened to them and they needed his attention, not the girls. The blue seeker really didn't need to be feeling guilty about Callie and Lucy as well.

The problem was, he did feel guilty and he did worry about them. What if this _Denis Soomac_ caught up with the girls? What if this new threat, the men in Los Angeles, hurt them? What if Megatron found out about them?

So many ways for them to be hurt, so many ways for their lives to end, their soft bodies were far too easy to destroy. What if they were hurt when he could have been there to protect them or worse, what if they were killed? So many what ifs and no answers to any of them.

The seeker's scowl deepened as he slammed the back of his helm against the side of the trailer. He wanted to protect the girls as much as he wanted to protect his trine, and it may have scared him, but he wanted it desperately. But how could he choose? How could he leave the girls alone in a cruel world that had already abandoned them to their fate?

In the same breath, how could he leave his trine mates alone, deep in the bowels of the Nemesis with Megatron and his ever slipping sanity? The simple fact was that he could not, he would be forced to leave-to abandon- the girls to their fate just like everybody else.

Thundercracker didn't like it one slagging bit.

He didn't like how conflicted he had become, how emotional he had become as of late. He was never this emotional, this attached to anyone but Skywarp. Maybe Starscream if the time called for it. How did these two small, weak females worm their way into his spark? How had they twisted him and turned his life upside down so quickly?

He was in a war damn it! He was _the_ air commander's lieutenant, the second most powerful seeker in the Decepticon army and here he was, worrying about two small humans. The blue jet sighed, shaking his dark, damaged helm; the fact was, he did care about them. Cared for them like a brother would, like a family member would.

Snarling, Thundercracker gave himself a hard shake, he needed to dislodge this sudden, new found weakness before he got back to the Nemesis. He couldn't afford to allow Megatron to see his newly discovered...softness.

It was no use, however. The humans _had_ softened him. Perhaps it was because they cared about him, cared about something as sentimental as his feelings. He had begun to care about them along the way, and he was not entirely sure when that had started, only that he had.

Which lead back to his fragging conflict. He couldn't leave the girls, but he couldn't stay either. What in the Pit was he going to do?

The thought that he could bring them back to the Nemesis had flirted across his processor for a breem, but he quickly purged that dark thought. The only way he would even get them close to the Nemesis was if he told Starscream he wanted them as pets or trophies.

They would hate him, however, if he did something as drastic as strip them of their freedom. Hate everything about him, regret they saved his life and Thundercracker wasn't sure if he could handle their hate.

But there was no way around it though, eventually he would betray them. Betray their trust and they would hate him anyways. Was it better to have their trust, their love for just a little longer and risk their lives? Or take them as pets now and have them scorn him, but be safe until the end of the war?

The blue jet sagged, he had no slagging idea. He had no idea which was the worst of two evils, no idea what the right choice would be. Either way, he would lose; lose his trine or the humans he had come to care for.

The whole situation was ridiculous, the F-15 thought bitterly to himself., 'Such an Autobot situation!'

It was a weak, shameful situation that was the pinnacle of his failure. He was sick of always loosing, but really what other outcome was he going to achieve?

A surge of emotion from the seeker's chest forced a noise that was a cross between a gasp and groan to escape his mouth plates. One way or another he was going to lose, and he despised the idea. Why couldn't he win, and in turn his trine would win, just this once. Why couldn't they win just this one time.

What was he thinking though? That Callie would convince her cousins to come live in Nemesis with his trine and they'd all live happily ever after? Right, like that would ever happen. He was sure she would not leave her cousins, just as he would never leave his trine.

A dark depression settled in his spark, a spark that was scarred by war but one that Callie still thought was beautiful, caused the seeker to moan in emotional pain. This wasn't fair.

He was glad when the truck began to slow down, it gave his mind something else to focus on rather than his depression. His curiosity, which slowly took over his depression, peeked when the truck came to a complete stop on the side of I-15. They were now closer to L.A rather than Vegas, coming ever closer to when Thundercracker would be forced to make his spark wrenching decision.

They would be in Los Angeles by the end of the day.

Thundercracker pushed those thoughts away, listening to Callie jumping out from the driver side of the cab, slamming the door behind her. He heard her shoes crunch on the gravel of the edge of the road as she came closer to the doors of the trailer. He heard Lucy jump from the passenger side of the truck, running around to the driver side, bolting along the road to the back to beat her sister.

"Lucy!" the seeker heard Callie snap, worry tainting her voice, "Don't run on that side of the truck! It's too close to the road, you know better than to do that."

The seeker heard Lucy giggle and found that he was happy to hear such a noise from her again, "Sorry Callie."

The taller blonde came to stand by the lock of the trailer, allowing the seeker to see her. Her face was turned down and was pinched in anger, "Well, sorry isn't going to cut it if you're hit by a car. You know that you should go around the passenger side, it's safer that way. Danny would tan your hide if she ever saw you do that."

The nine year old puffed herself up to look bigger as she stuck her tongue out at her sister. The taller blonde rolled her dark blue eyes as she turned to pull the orange ribbon from Thundercracker's pede.

The seeker watched as the human reached up to unlock the doors to let him out; she flung the doors open wide, "Hey TC, I need to talk to you for a sec." She said, scowling at Lucy before turning worried eyes to the seeker. She looked...almost embarrassed.

Curious to what was going on, Thundercracker slowly inched his way out from the trailer. Once out, he slowly walked around it, coming to sit on the passenger side, leaning against the trailer for support. He was beginning to weaken; the diesel was becoming less and less effective.

Another reason to return to the Nemesis.

Frowning, he shoved that thought away, he would deal with it later. Turning his attention to Callie, the seeker froze. She appeared to be fine and was fine that morning when she had woken up to begin the day. She did, however, appear to be a little pale, but that could be due to the long nights she spent talking to him starting to take their toll on her.

There was something wrong though, and it took him a moment to smell the coppery tang of blood. He lifted his helm like a hound dog would, sniffing at the air to confirm that it was blood he smelled, but there was no denying that scent. It was too specific, too coppery and rich to be anything else.

A flair of panic bolted through the seeker as his working crimson optic brightened and focused in on Callie. Narrowing his gaze in on the girl, Thundercracker glared at her, "Is everything alright?"

Callie blinked at him and gave him a toothy grin, "Yes?" she said hesitantly.

Thundercracker growled at her, "Why can I smell blood then?"

Callie's grin fell into a shocked frown, "You can smell blood?"

"Yes. Yes I can, and it's coming off of you." The seeker snarled, "Why do I smell blood?"

Callie blinked twice at him, before turning her head to look at Lucy, "Go wait in the car for a moment. I need to talk to TC."

The nine year old pouted at her sister, "Oh! You two always talk about stuff without me! I want to listen in too."

"Lucy, we're grownups, and we need to talk about grownup stuff. Now go." Callie snapped.

The smaller blonde scowled up at her sister before turning and stomping back to the cab of the truck. She paused once she was at the door, to look back hopefully at her sister and the Decepticon; but seeing her sisters firm, angry look, the nine year old opened the passenger side door of the truck with a huff and practically threw herself inside.

Only once the sleek, black door slam shut did Callie turn to look at Thundercracker. Hands on her hips, the small human started with, "Listen, I need to pick something up from towww!"

Cutting her off , Thundercracker carefully picked her up by the back of her shirt. He lifted her small, squirming, kicking form up to his face plates to get a better look at her. He carefully spun her around slowly, looking for any wounds on her body.

Confused he found none, "Thundercracker, what's the idea! Put me down now!" she snarled from her helpless position.

Carefully setting her down, the seeker frowned, "Are you injured?" he asked slowly.

Suddenly Callie's face bloomed red in embarrassment, "I am not injured Thundercracker! I just need a favour from you." She spat.

Frowning, Thundercracker gave her a shrewd look, "What kind of favour? And why do I smell blood!"

Callie made a noise deep in the back of her throat that could have been annoyance, "I need to run into town. It's about a ten minute walk into the nearest one. So I should be back in an hour at the absolute most. I thought you and Lucy could spend a little bit more time together before you go back home." She gave a small shrug, "Besides you didn't get a change to stretch your wing last night, I thought you might want some time outside."

The seeker gave her a slanted look, "So you want me to watch Lucy. For a little bit. While you go into town for something."

"Pretty much, yeah." Callie shrugged, not quite meeting his optic.

The seeker frowned at her, slowly saying, "Okay. I can watch the brat. But why do I smell _blood_!"

Callie's face heated up in embarrassment, and Thundercracker was glad it was her for once that was burning in humiliation instead of him, "It's nothing. No need to worry." She blurted quickly.

Giving her a flat look, Thundercracker snorted, "Let me get this straight. I can smell blood, which usually means that someone is injured, and you want me to just not worry?"

"Because it's fine. Nothing's wrong." Callie insisted, her face still bright red.

Thundercracker cocked a metal brow and gave her an unimpressed look. Again, he picked her up by the back of her shirt, bringing her to his optic level, "Why do I smell blood Callie?"

"Thundercracker, put me down! You're going to rip my shirt!" She snarled from her dangling position.

"Why do I smell blood?" Thundercracker snarled back, his voice low and deadly.

Despite dangling from his black servo, Callie huffed and put her hands to her hips. She set her face into a determined grimace, she snarled up at him, "Fine, you want to know! I'm on my _period_ okay! Are you happy now!"

Instead of the reaction she was expecting from a mech, which was usually utter disgust, Thundercracker gave her a confused look, "You're period? I don't. What is that?" he asked.

Callie blinked up at him with a blank, shocked look, "I. What?"

"What is a period?"

Callie paused, still staring up in shock at him, "You have _got_ to be kidding me!"

Seeing his continuing blank look, Callie sighed, "You're. You're not kidding me are you?"

"No WiFi here. Can't look it up." Came Thundercracker's snarky response.

"Okay. Just put me down, and I'll explain."

Giving her a look, the seeker cocked a knee and dropped her onto it. She attempted to stand on the offered joint, but he swung her out a little, making sure she landed on her but. Thundercracker smirked as she cringed a little.

Shooting him a dark look, Callie asked, "Alright. Do you know where human babies come from?"

Confused, the seeker canted his helm to the side, "I do." He started slowly, "But what does that have to do with anything?"

Callie sighed, giving him a dead panned look, "Well. Kind of everything. So you know about the umm. Sperm and egg...and stuff?"

His face heating up in embarrassment, Thundercracker stuttered, "Y-Yes! Of course." He paused to look away, "Don't see what this has to do with a period."

Callie sighed, "Right well. Do you know what happens to the egg if it's not, you know, fertilized?"

The seeker shrugged, "I just assumed that it stayed put until it was fertilized."

Callie looked up at him and licked at her lips, "Umm. No. Not quite."

Sighing again, the human squared her small shoulders and looked him right in the optic, "If the egg is not fertilized within a certain amount of time, the body will flush it out. It is a completely normal and natural thing to do." Thundercracker gave her a slightly confused look, so she carried on, "The uterine lining sheds, discharging from the female body, as a bloody...discharge" she finished awkwardly.

Sitting back, Thundercracker blinked at her as his processor worked out what she had just told him. She could practically count down to the moment when it clicked in his mind what she had just told him.

A look of disgust came over his face as he suddenly snatched her off his knee, holding her by the back of her shirt again, yet slightly away from his steal frame. He gave a high pitched chirr of repulsion, suddenly giving her a look of horror. "That's! You're systems are disgusting! Absolutely disgusting! What is wrong with your species!"

Callie rolled her eyes at him as he set her back on the ground, "Again, like I can help it."

Looking at his knee, Thundercracker scrubbed at the metal as though it had been contaminated by some kind of vile material, "Disgusting! I can't believe you let me drop you on my knee. I could have touched your blood."

Huffing at the seeker, Callie snapped "Like you gave me a choice! Besides, you think you have it bad? Do you know what my undines look like? It looks like someone-"

"STOP! I don't want to know. I don't care anymore. I don't want to know why you need to go to town any more. I'll watch Lucy while you do, just. Stop. Talking." Thundercracker snapped, both his servos raised up like a shield to stop her. He tilted his faceplates away and offlined his optic too further distance himself from the uncomfortable situation.

Callie grinned up at his light grey faceplates, "Oh but you wanted to know why you could _smell_ blood! Seriously, my panties look like someone ki-"

"Stop! I do not want to know! I just don't want to know." the seeker snapped.

Grinning in victory, Callie stood a little taller, "Honestly, it's not that bad. I have to go through this every month, how do you think I feel? It's certainly worse for me, having blood come out of my-"

"CALLIE!" the Decepticon snarled.

Smirking up at him, Callie's grin widened, "And its lasts from four days to a solid week, depending on how heavy your flow is."

Her voice was just too high pitched and happy, making Thundercracker realize that she was enjoying this far too much, "Just go to town. I'll be fine with Lucy for an hour."

She patted his blue thigh, her sense of victory rolling off her in waves, "Thanks TC. Appreciate it. I doubt it will take me an hour; it will only take me twenty minutes or so to walk there and back. I'm only picking up a box of tampons and pads, but if I'm gone longer than an hour, start to worry."

"Fine, just go." he snarled at her, disgusted.

Walking to the cab of the truck, Callie threw a wicked look over her shoulder, "What, you don't want to know what tampons are?"

"No!" he snarled back at her with a huff as she opened the door to release Lucy.

The smaller blonde jumped from the passenger side of the cab, shooting her sister a dark look. Callie met said look with a wide grin, pleased that she had managed to make Thundercracker uncomfortable once again.

"Lucy, stay with TC for a little while I need to go into town."

The smaller blonde continued to scowl up at her sister as she marched past her to the seeker. Dropping down in a huff beside his hip, Lucy crossed her small arms over her chest and continued to glare at Callie.

Smirking at the pair of them, Callie said "I'll be back in less than an hour."

First giving the human a slanted look, Thundercracker slipped a glance at Lucy before turning his attention back to Callie, "Is she affected by this affliction?"

Snorting, Callie's grin somehow managed to get a little bigger, "Not yet. She will once she hits puberty. Like I said, it's natural."

Shooting the smaller girl an alarmed look, the big seeker sighed. He didn't like this period thing a single bit.

With a last smirk over her shoulder, Callie sauntered down the road towards town.

()()()

Seventy-two minutes later, and Thundercracker was more than just a little worried. Seventy-two slagging minutes and Callie still wasn't back from her little in town excursion. He had entertained Lucy by playing a card game with her (some random human game called crazy eight countdown) that had kept her busy for the first sixty minutes.

The girl had climbed up onto his knee strut, the same one that he had set Callie down onto, and demanded that they play her silly little game. The seeker, having nothing better to do, had sighed and agreed to play as he kept an eye on Callie's disappearing form until he could no longer see her.

The moment Callie had set off on her little journey to collect tampons, whatever those were, Thundercracker had set an internal timer for sixty minutes. That stupid timer had gone off now, and that was thirteen minutes ago. Where the Pit was she?

"Hey TC, what do think is taking Callie so long?" Lucy asked, her own worry shinning in her lighter blue eyes. The blue jet cast his own worried look down at the girl before looking back into the distance, towards the town that Callie had gone to.

"I don't know." Thundercracker muttered quietly, trying to ignore the worry he was feeling. Had Callie left them? Just up and left him with the small girl?

No. He was sure Callie wouldn't do that, wasn't like that. She wouldn't abandon Lucy, not when she had fought so hard to keep her; wouldn't abandon him, she had fought too hard to keep him alive too. Or, so he hoped.

Then where was she? Had she been hurt, unable to return to the truck? If that was the case, what was he going to do and what about Lucy?

"Lucy, did Callie take her phone with her?"

"I think so." The nine year old responded quietly, her own eyes in the direction that Callie had gone in, waiting for her sisters return.

Thundercracker frowned a little as worry knotted his tanks, 'If she comes back all nonchalant...' he thought to himself with a snarl, he would make sure she would pay for making him worry. How, he'd figure that out later.

However, if she wasn't just late, Thundercracker would make anyone who hurt her pay dearly for it.

The seeker sighed and pushed that thought away. Any breem now she would be walking down the road, no doubt with a bag of stuff swinging from her wrist and humming some Primus-awful tune.

Lucy shifted on his knee, the card game they had been playing was forgotten and the cards scattered across his blue armour.

"TC," the small voice broke the uncomfortable silence, "I'm worried."

He shifted his gaze from the empty road to the small human and sighed, "I am too. But I'm sure she's fine," the lie felt like acid in his throat, "She'll be back soon. I'm sure of it."

Lucy sighed and huffed, hunching into herself, "I hope so TC. What are we going to do?"

The seeker sighed, rubbing at his forehelm in his frustration, "I don't know Lucy. We'll figure something out." He told her firmly.

Shifting his gaze away from Lucy and back to the road, Thundercracker hoped that Callie would suddenly materialise and be there. Of course, if hoping had worked, he'd still be on Cyberton and not this Pit of a planet. They wouldn't be in the middle of an endless war, separated from his trine mate and bonded.

Of course, he would never have met Callie and Lucy if not for the damned war either. Since when did he see the silver lining in things?

Cycling air, Thundercracker looked down the road to and found himself freezing at what he saw. Callie, she was too far away to make out any detail of her, was running down the road towards them.

She wasn't just running though, she was what humans would call _hauling ass_. Her small arms pumped hard at her sides and her legs were like pistons propelling her forward. A cold shiver went down Thundercracker's spinal struts as he watched his human ran as fast as she could towards them.

Something was wrong, there was no doubt about that, and they needed to get out of the area. Systems rising to a battle ready state as a sort of anticipation and excitement flooded the seekers frame; it was the same sort of high he got just before he would head into battle. It was that itching to act, the knowledge that he would soon get to release his darkness and hatred out into the world. To make others suffer and hurt the way he did, to live up to _Decepticon_ standards; descending into the darkest part of his spark to do what needed to be done.

He always hated that feeling after the battle was over, when everything calmed down to a semi peace for a while. But just before and during a battle, there was no better high than that.

"Lucy, get your cards and get into the truck." Thundercracker told her coldly, a tone he had yet to use around her.

As Callie got closer, a black spot came over the horizon and Thundercracker thought it looked like a truck. He felt a thrill of icy joy bolt through his systems, causing his frame to tense, ready for battle.

Lucy, confused and a little afraid of the seeker's sudden change in character, quietly collected her cards and slipped onto his awaiting servo to get to the ground. Shooting the seeker a worried look, Lucy paused by the passenger side door.

Shifting his cool gaze to his smaller charge, Thundercracker nodded his helm towards the truck, "Get in Lucy. You'll be safer in there." His gruff, cool voice said.

The smaller girl frowned up at him and did as she was told, for once not fighting him. His cracked lip plates pulled into a bitter smirk when he heard her lock the doors; the more sensible part of his mind wondered if it was because she was afraid of him.

That thought was drowned out by his need to do violence as Callie finally came huffing to stand besides the seeker. Her face was bright red and her chest heaved with her effort to breath.

Worried blue eyes looked up at Thundercracker, not noticing how cold his optic was, how tense his frame was and how ready for violence he was. Callie should have read those signs like an open book; she had grown up amongst enough thugs to be able to read the signs.

She missed those red flags because of the panic she found herself in. Her heavy panting left her mouth in ragged puffs and she was forced to lean onto the box of the truck for support. Her chest burned and her legs ached from her hard run from town; panicking eyes fell hard onto Thundercracker and even through the haze of violent need he found he cared what could have caused her to panic.

He wanted to destroy what caused her panic.

His violent threshold raised, just a little, as he watched the truck, white and red, getting closer and closer to their position.

"Where's Lucy!" Callie snapped between gasps of air.

"In the truck." He said emotionlessly as he tracked the other truck, calculating its distance and how soon it would arrive. That was the source of her panic; he was so sure of it.

Callie turned back the way she had come, and only then noticed the white and red truck getting closer and closer. It would be on them at any moment and he found himself waiting, wanting, it to get there.

Callie hissed when she saw it getting closer and closer. She spun around to face the seeker, "Get down!" she snarled at him, tossing the plastic bag that hung at her wrist into the box of the truck.

Dragging his optic from the ever moving truck to look at her, Thundercracker gave her an angry look, "What?"

She ignored his cold tone, more concerned with the ever approaching truck, "I said get down you moron! So they don't see you. I can handle this!"

A deep growl rumbled from the damaged jet's frame, snarling at his human, "Why should I?"

"If they see you, they will call the police! They'll bring the government in and take you away to...to some god forsaken area 51 type place." Callie snarled, frantic to protect him as well as Lucy.

In his violent charged mind, the seeker rejected her weakness, rejected her want to protect him. He should be the one to take care of this new problem.

He snarled at her, threatening her. Callie, however, was never afraid of him. Instead she put her hands on her hips and glared right back, "Thundercracker! Get the fuck down!"

His glace slid to the approaching truck and smirked. Oh he would do what she asked, he would lay in wait, ensure that his red and white truck was the threat that needed to be dealt with.

With a dark smirk, Thundercracker slithered along the ground so that he lay flat on his belly so that the new _people_ couldn't see him. Callie should have taken that dark look as another red flag, one that she promptly ignored in favour of sending her attention to the truck.

She hopped over the trailer hitch and rushed to the driver side door of the truck. Thundercracker listened as she tore the door open and poked her head inside, telling Lucy in a sharp tone to stay in the truck and keep the doors locked.

Locking the door herself, Callie spun around to face the approaching truck. Her face was still flushed red and she still panted slightly, but Callie managed to plant her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face.

The truck _finally_ came to stop beside the trailer-something that seemed to take far too long Thundercracker thought- and he could hear three quick heart beats.

Smirking, Thundercracker shuttered in anticipation, waiting for when he could attack, all he needed was a reason. 'Just give me a reason.' He thought darkly to himself.

He could hear two heavy doors open and three heavily built people scramble from the cab of the old, dirty truck. He could smell the disgusting exhaust fumes from that truck; it smelt different than the exhaust that Callie's truck produced, more bitter. More pungent.

"I thought I told you to leave me alone." Callie's cold, hard voice snarled, disguising her panic with anger and snapping him from his thoughts.

The seeker tilted his helm to listen to her angry voice, but he could also hear her small heart pounding in her chest with a swift _thud-duh, thud-duh, thud-duh._

She was scared, and much to the descended seeker's surprise, it made him angrier. It raised his violent thresh hold even closer to the killing edge.

"You left so quickly, we didn't get a chance to finish talking." A smooth, rich voice said. It reminded him of Mirage in the way it sounded so cultured, so high class. Odd, he thought through the haze of violence, for someone to have that kind of accent to be associated with people in a vehicle like that.

The seeker ignored that thought, listening in to the conversation.

From his still, low position, Thundercracker could hear the one who was speaking coming directly at Callie, the other two flanking the small blonde. He could practically see the three men surrounding her, boxing her in.

His mind screamed that she should never allow that to happen, she should never get boxed in by enemies like that. He quickly silenced that part of his mind, waiting in soundless excitement, waiting for a reason to defend Callie.

"I don't want to talk to you. Now go away." She snarled, her small hands balling into fists.

Thundercracker's frame tensed, waiting, ready. His finely tuned audios could hear Lucy shifting around in the truck, could _hear_ her small heart pounding in her small chest. 'Stay put little one.' He thought to himself, getting a whiff of the air around him.

Scents of alcohol and hormones that did not belong to Callie filled the seeker's olfactory structure and he nearly snarled at the implications. He clamped his mandibles shut, waiting. Waiting for just the right moment.

"Aww, come on doll. We just want to talk." A voice to Callie's left snarled.

Callie huffed, "Fuck off and leave me alone."

A thud of a hand slapping against the side of the truck caused the violent thresh hold to be raised just a little more, his frame started trembling from its tenseness, "That's no way for a lady to speak."

"Leave me the hell alone!" Callie snapped, shoving one of the men away from her, forcing the man to stumble back.

The one in the center suddenly grabbed Callie's thin arms and threw her to the ground; he was on her in seconds, struggling with her as she tried to throw him off her body. She managed to land a solid punch to his face with a grunt, and Thundercracker was satisfied when he heard the pretty boys nose break under her fist.

The man cried out in pain as Callie struggled to get up, only to have the other two pin her down. She screamed out in a panicked rage and he could hear her heart pounding in her chest as adrenalin flooded her body. He could hear her kick and struggle with her attackers, fighting with everything she had.

' _Enough,'_ the seeker thought darkly to himself, pressing his palms flat to the ground, raising his frame from where he lay. If they wanted to gang up on a single girl, well Thundercracker was going to give them something else to worry about.

He was about to stand, when he heard the door of the sleek black truck click open and Lucy's small head poked out.

_NO!_

Both the seeker and his human charge froze when the young girl's soft voice rang out, "What's going on Callie?"

"Get back in the truck!" Callie snarled, struggling harder against the two men that held her down.

Thundercracker growled darkly to himself as he began to rise again as the third man, the one with the broken nose, made a grab at Lucy. He tore her from the truck, dragging the struggling girl to the horrid scene that was played out on the other side of the truck.

Lucy gave a frightened squeak as she was forced from the truck, her small legs kicked hard against her attacker, "Lemme go!" the small girl squealed.

Callie howled in rage as he brought Lucy closer, "If you don't cooperate, I'll hurt the girl." The cultured voice snarled.

Thundercracker pushed himself to his knees, not waiting to hear Callie's response, ready- _wanting_ \- to attack, when Lucy suddenly screamed. Although, a scream was not the right word for the noise that tore from Lucy's small throat, as she _shrieked_ in panic.

For just a breem, mere astroseconds really, Thundercracker froze, no longer kneeling on a high way on Earth, but trapped in Vos as it fell...

_A shriek of turbo engines screamed overhead causing Thundercracker to look skyward in frozen panic._

_Massive battle cruisers flew overhead, the bright red Autobot insignia splashed on the side of every ship. They floated over the dark skies of Vos, slowly, ominously to the heart of the city._

_All around him, fully grown seekers took to the sky, their Alt forms screaming as they pursued the cruisers, desperate to stop them. Alarms and sirens screamed warnings, telling all seekers to run, flee the city._

_Many didn't, many joined the Seeker elite to fend off the threat, to protect their city. Thundercracker prepped his small thrusters, just taking off when a hand grabbed his ankle and forced him back to the ground._

_The blue seeker turned to scowl at who would be so foolish, coming optic to optic with Starscream. His trine leader sent a pulse of aggravation to his trine mate as he grabbed his blue plated upper arm,_ "What the pit are you doing! Trying to die?"

 _The blue mechling scowled at his friend, sending his own pulse of irritation along the trine bonds,_ "Starscream, we need to do something!"

 _The tri colour seeker snarled at his companion,_ "Do you want to be slaughtered like them!" _the other seeker snarled, jabbing his finger into the sky, where seeker after seeker exploded in a ball of colourful light._

 _Thundercracker looked back up to the battle cruisers, and the direction they were heading in,_ "Starscream," _the blue seeker said softly,_ "They're heading for the nurseries."

_Starscream's crimson optics narrowed in on the ships before he gasped, realising that his trine mate was right. They were heading right for the nurseries. But no, they couldn't. Not even Sentinel Prime could be that cruel...could he?_

_The two mechlings shared a brief look of horror, and newly developed programming slammed into the forefront of both of their processors, the need to protect those sparklings and younglings taking over all reasonable thought._

"We're no match for the battle cruisers," _Starscream said in a rush, visibly fighting off panic,_ "but we're faster. If we can beat them to the nursery district, maybe we can evacuate some of the sparklings."

_It wasn't much of a plain, but it was a plan they could go with. Nodding numbly, watching the ships get ever closer to the nurseries._

_With no words spoken between the two mechlings, the pair leapt into the air and transformed into their sleek Alt forms. Staying low and close to the ground, the two seekers flew as fast as they could to the nursery district; flying through and around any obstacle in their way._

_They flew in a graceful dance, moving ever closer to their destination. As they came to the edge of the nursery district and to the first seekerling building, the trine mates transformed smoothly back into their bi-pedal form._

_Looking to his trine leader with a grin, Thundercracker said,_ "We can do this. This will actually work."

_Starscream turned to meet his trine mates optics, happiness danced in those red pools, and he opened his mouth plates to agree. To give the rest of the plan to get the sparklings from the area before the Autobots could attack, when there was a terrifying_ **Foosh-Boom** _from the center of the nursery district._

_The ground began to shake as both young seekers gasped, watching the massive mushroom of fire and heat explode from the center of the nurses. They stood frozen, watching the flames and feeling the heat rush towards them, destroying everything in its path._

_Thundercracker managed to beat down the panic as he turned, grabbing hold of Starscream and bolted for an alleyway, desperate to get away from the weakening flames._

_As they darted between the two buildings, the nursery that they had been about to enter exploded behind them, destroying the young lives within it. Flames and heat erupted all around them as the buildings around them collapsed, burring the two seekers under rubble and debris._

_Hot air whooshed over Thundercracker's wings as he clung to Starscream, knowing that he would probably die there, buried beneath the building. Never able to protect the young lives they had set out to save._

_Darkness and oblivion claimed the seeker shortly after the heat became painful, and Thundercracker welcomed it..._

_When he came to, Primus knows how much time had passed, he was no longer buried beneath the rubble that had fallen onto him._ _Someone had pulled him from the remains of the building; the air was cool on his overheated frame as he forced his crimson optics to online. He was met with a world of fuzzy white, and he was forced to cycle his optics off and on in order to clear them._

_When they finally cleared, he was met with the sight of grey ash floating lazily through the air and hazy sky. Whoever had saved him had left him on his back, unable to yet see the devastation of the attack._

_In the distance, the blue seeker could hear someone screaming in pain and loss, but the noise was distant and fuzzy. Almost like he was hearing it from underwater._

_Groaning, Thundercracker forced himself to sit up and he had to recalibrate his audio receivers; pressing his servos to his optics, sounds came back clear and loud._

_Whoever was screaming was close to where the blue jet sat, but he could now hear other sounds; other mechs and femmes crying out softly, sirens blazing in the distance and explosions were happening everywhere._

_Thundercracker groaned in pain as he dialled down the sensitivity, the noise hurting his audios. Then again, everything hurt._

_Venting a puff of hot air, the once blue seeker forced his burnt frame to its pedes; he needed to find Starscream, nothing else mattered but him._

_Working his glossa around him mouth Thundercracker looked around for the first time and found nothing but devastation and destruction. In front of him was the main city of Vos, or what was left of it. Behind him were the nurseries, and he desperately didn't want to look. Didn't want to see how bad the damage really was, but that was most likely where Starscream would have gone, looking for surviving sparklings and younglings._

_Venting hard and trying to get the nauseous haze from his processor, Thundercracker turned around, only to fall to his knees in anguish._

_There was nothing left._

_Absolutely nothing left of the central nurseries; almost every building had been destroyed by the blast, and then incinerated by the proceeding fire. Only rubble and melted steel from the outer buildings remand, including the building that he had tried to get to before the blast hit. The lives in side lost to the flames. Lives he had failed to save._

_They were lucky to be alive, but that didn't matter his processor told him. The seekerlings were dead, he had failed._

_A broken sob burst from his chest and he realised with surprise that cold, energon tears leaked down his cheeks; he didn't bother to wipe them away as he looked on in horror at the detestation, as fires ripped through what used to be the central nursery hub._

_Hurt and agony that was not physical ripped through Thundercracker, causing the mechling to shutter. This was not how it was supposed to be. They were supposed to protect the sparklings, not be too late and have to watch their failures burn away._

_A scream of emotional pain dragged his attention away from the fires to a small, huddled form not far from where he knelt and it took Thundercracker a breem to realize that it was Starscream. The mostly red mech was curled into a tight ball, his energon covered servos dug tightly, painfully, into his black helm. A new need arose in Thundercracker, and he knew he had to get to his trine leader, had to make this better...somehow._

_Forcing himself to his pedes once again, Thundercracker made a slow, shuffling walk to where the other mechling had fallen. The closer the blue seeker got, the more clear the damage to Starscream's servos became; the plating had been sheared off, energon lines had snapped and pistons half falling off dangled from his servos. He must have dug and clawed his way out from the rubble, Thundercracker thought to himself as he slowly approached the other mechling._

_Only when he finally reached the other seeker, did Thundercracker allow himself to collapse. His heavy frame dropped down hard beside the other, leaning against him for support. Light blue arms coiled tightly around red chest plates as Thundercracker pulled the smaller mechling against him._

_Starscream didn't fight the hold, instead clinging to Thundercracker in a desperate embrace. The mechlings clung to each other as they shuttered, watching the fires eat away at the remains of the nurseries. The tri colour seeker sobbed brokenly into blue chest plates, when he suddenly screamed in emotional agony._

_Thundercracker just held him, his own tears making clear trails down his faceplates,_ "It's okay Starscream. It's okay, let it out."

_His voice was barley a whisper, but the other mechling heard him, screaming out his hurt into his trine mates chest plates._

_Thundercracker didn`t know how long they sat there amongst the devastation and ruins of Vos, but he didn`t move until Starscream's howls of agony dies down to harsh sobs, to quiet hiccupping and, finally, to stony silence. The blue seeker didn`t dare move, didn`t know what to say. What could he possibly say that would make any of this better? There was nothing. Not a Pit damned thing._

_Then suddenly, a soft distressed clicking coo drew the attention of the two mechlings behind them, both frozen at what they had just heard. There was just no way that noise could be real, just a figment of their imagination caused by stress of the situation. The blue seeker turned his helm back to the devastation, determined to burn the image into his mind, so he would never forget what the Autobots were capable of. Never forget what happened to Vos._

_Starscream on the other hand, kept his chin on Thundercracker`s shoulder plate, his focus on the rubble behind them, his light grey brow knitted in worry and his firm frown set in place. Still he didn`t move, just listened, waiting for the noise again._

_The soft cooing came again, breaking Starscream from his trance. The other seeker leapt from Thundercracker's grip and stumbled towards the noise,_ "Did you hear that?"

_Thundercracker was slower to rise to his pedes, unsure if he had in fact heard it. He didn`t say anything to his trine leader, not wanting to break the hopefulness that the other desperately clung to. Following his trine leader in a daze, Thundercracker shuffled among the rubble, listening for the sound again._

_The third time the coo came, it was louder, more desperate and it gave the blue seeker the same hope as it did his trine leader. Thundercracker froze as hope carefully curled in his spark, "_ I heard it," _The blue seeker said firmly, a little frantic to find the source of the noise now that he confirmed it was real._

_With a glance to each other, the two young seekers took off clicking and cooing in seeker cant, hoping to entice the other to make the noise again. They were rewarded with the desperate cooing from the one making the noise. The pair followed the noise to one of the collapsed buildings, to what might have been a foyer before the building had been destroyed. The clicking and cooing from the other became more desperate the closer they got, causing the other seekers to move quickly._

_Coming to stop at the edge of the rubble, from someplace in there a seeker was trapped alive. Wasting no more time, Thundercracker and Starscream tore into the rubble, digging franticly to get to whomever was left alive, trapped beneath the heavy concrete and metal. They both ignored the pain from their servos as plating was sheared off in their desperate digging; all that mattered was getting to the trapped seeker. The trine mates kept up their clicking and cooing, doing their best to reassure that help was coming._

_It was Starscream who found the small crevasse that trapped the youngling. He shoved the heavy steel debris away and peered inside, gasping as two crimson optics stared blankly up at him. The older seeker froze, just staring down at the youngling as he felt a hard tug on his spark. The youngling stared back up at the mechling, cooing up at him curious to what was going on._

_With great effort, Thundercracker made his way over to his trine leader, who seemed to have dropped back into a state of shock, just staring down at the smaller seeker, still trapped within the rubble._

_The blue seeker sat heavily beside his trine leader, ignoring the damage to his frame as he peered in to the whole. He was curious as to why Starscream had yet to pull the other out, only to freeze when he felt the familiar pull on his spark. Instinct told him that the small youngling was theirs. That they belonged together, a completed trine, and that took just a little bit of the sting of failure from Thundercracker's spark._

_Licking cracked lip plates, Thundercracker was the first to move, carefully reaching down with energon slicked servos into the hole to pull the youngling out. He chirped unhappily when his small legs were still caught with in the rubble, but Starscream snapped out of his daze to untangle his legs from the steel that had somehow been wrapped around the tiny limbs._

_Pulling the mechling out completely, Thundercracker held him up and away from them so he could get a better look at their newly found trine mate; the youngling looked as though he would soon be ready for his mechling upgrades, and his crimson optics were bright and wide with fear. He was so dirty, covered in grime and ash, that it was near impossible to tell what colors he had, but Thundercracker though he could see flecks of purple in the younglings thin armour._

_The older two seekers shared a look, no words were needed to say what they both were feeling; we almost lost him._

_The small youngling chirped again, reaching out for both Starscream and Thundercracker, not understanding why but wanting to be closer to those who found him. Unable to resist their third, Thundercracker pulled the youngling in close, setting him against his chest plates, at the same time Starscream shifted to face the blue seeker. The pair enclosed the youngling between them; Thundercracker wrapped one arm around Starscream's shoulders, his servo petting at his dirty white wings, while his other arm clung to the youngling. Starscream wrapped both arms around the blue mechs shoulders, clinging tightly, almost painfully, to the blue armour, pressing his chest plates to the little one, providing what little comfort he could._

_The small one between them sighed in content, setting his tiny helm against Thundercracker`s cock-pit, but a small, dirty servo clung to Starscream`s as well, almost like the little one was afraid that the trine leader would leave if he wasn`t holding on ._

_Starscream let his dark helm fall onto Thundercracker's shoulder, tucked between his own arm and the blue mech`s neck. He could feel Starscream working his jaw, as the trembling came back, and the trine leader opened his mouth to say something-_

"THUNDERCRACKER!" Callie`s voice shrieked, dragging the blue seeker from his memory.

The whole sordid memory shot through the seeker`s processor in a matter of astroseconds, so to the humans it seemed as though no time had passed at all. But to the big blue seeker, it felt like he had relived the whole event again, every moment up to finding Skywarp trapped within the rubble and realizing that they had come so close to losing him.

Another scream from Lucy- _a sparkling-_ caused Thundercracker to snarl inhumanly, tipping him past the violent threshold and ridding the killing edge. These men would die for hurting Callie and Lucy,- _the sparkling-_ he would not lose again. Not like how he failed in Vos. Not again. Never again.

Standing in one quick, fluid motion, he was sure to stand with his uninjured side to them, making sure they could not see the wound in his side or his missing wing.

Grinning, Thundercracker raised his arm, pointing his shoulder mounted laser at the humans below him, his weapon powering up with a gentle hum of power, making all the humans look up at him; The one who held onto Lucy had blood streaming from his nose, one hand tight on the back of her shirt, the other covering his broken nose. The other two who had Callie pinned to the ground had managed to get the button of her jeans open and were trying to pull them down. She was fighting so hard that her face was flushed red, and not allowing them to remove her clothing, now her only source of protection.

Nothing but the girls were clear to him, the other humans were nothing but blurs of colors and scents, but it didn't matter because _they_ didn`t matter. Only the girls- _the sparkling_ \- mattered at the moment.

Hot rage ate at the seeker, and it turned his spark cold with the need to do violence, to protect through violence. The men beneath him froze, staring up in shock as he stood high and tall above them. His icy cold smile cut an ugly path across his face plates, sneering at the men, "Release them."

Gone was the warm, deep rumbling voice that the girls had come to associate with their guardian and replaced with the clipped, emotionless voice. Callie shuttered at the sound of his voice, actually a little frightened of the massive seeker above her. She shoved that fear down hard however, this was Thundercracker after all. He had told her that he was a warrior, what did she think he did? That he would be kind and sweet on the battle field or when faced with a threat?

No. Of course not, he was an alien warrior damn it, of course he was dangerous. Callie just didn't think that it would look like this; so dangerous, so feral and he was protecting her. That thought made the panic and fear ebb away, knowing there was no reason for _her_ to fear Thundercracker.

The men, however, had frozen in place; their hands hard and tight against Callie's arms and legs. The one who had Lucy still had a tight grip on the back of her shirt, his fist curled tightly in the fabric.

' _Stupid!_ ' Thundercracker thought to himself as he snarled at the men, "I. Said. Release. Them."

His words were slow and spoken as though he were speaking to a half bit, which he probably was. He smirked when he could smell their fear coming off the three men in thick waves; this he enjoyed. He still enjoyed causing fear to other humans, enjoyed that he still had the ability to cause fear and panic just by the sight of him.

Slowly the three men released Callie and Lucy, their hands slowly drifting down to their sides as they started up in shock at the seeker. The moment the hands loosened on their bodies, the girls scrambled to the safety that Thundercracker was guarantying; Lucy had bolted for him, easily leaping over the trailer hitch while Callie scrambled to her feet, did up her jeans and began slowly backing away from them, afraid to turn her back.

The warrior in Thundercracker's mind purred in agreement and pride, one did not turn their back on an enemy, even when safety was secured. Only when Callie was safe by the seeker's black pede did he take his optic form the threat to properly inspect the girls.

Lucy appeared to be physically unharmed, but her wide eyed shock made even Thundercracker worry through his haze of anger. Callie on the other hand had bright red marks on her wrists that would likely bruise from where the one man had grabbed her and her elbows were scraped and bleeding from when she was pushed.

Another bolt of anger shot through the seeker then. 'How _dare_ they!' he thought to himself with a snarl, turning his attention back to the three men who continued to stare at him in shock.

Smirking, Thundercracker snarled the first words that came to mind. "Do you hear that?" he asked softly, not waiting for a response, "It's the sound of your own destruction."

His weapon began to hum louder as he prepared to shoot, waiting for the men to get into their truck and attempt to escape. He knew they would, they were cowards, all he had to do was terrify them enough.

Sure enough, the three bolted for their truck, shoving and pushing each other in their hast to escape. Callie grabbed onto Lucy, pulling the girl into a tight hug, pressing her face into her shoulder, not letting her watch the scene play out.

Callie couldn't look away, fascinated in the same way one is when seeing a train wreck, you just can't look away.

Two of the three men managed to get into the cab of the truck, including the cultured sounding one who dare grabbed Lucy- _SPARKLING_ \- and managed to get the truck started in their panicked state. The third man heaved his large form into the box as the truck began to peel away, speeding backwards down the road.

Thundercracker grinned coldly, watching them go, calculating the distance between the retreating vehicle and themselves; after all if he attacked to close Callie and Lucy would also be damaged from the blast.

The seeker waited patiently as the truck got further and further away from them, listening to Callie's rapid heartbeat, stealing his resolve to complete his mission. Waiting...waiting...almost...

There.

Thundercracker smiled coldly and fired at the retreating truck, a flash of yellow light lit up the area, reflecting off of Callie's blonde hair as it left the muzzle of his weapon. The bolt of yellow light shot down the road, impacting with the truck.

The proceeding explosion caused Callie to duck her head, turning into Thundercracker, the one who caused said explosion, to hide from the carnage. The seeker didn't move, didn't even vent air as he watched the truck explode, incinerating all inside with grim satisfaction.

When Callie dared poke her head from around the seeker's protective armour, she couldn't stop the gasp that left her; there was nothing left of the truck, or the men, but a flaming wreck of metal and scorched road.

She stared at what was left of the truck in a mix of horror and shock. Instinct from spending most of her young adulthood on the street guided her next actions. Moving faster than Thundercracker thought possible, Callie tossed Lucy into the truck, barking an order, "Get in the backseat and put your belt on, now!"

Not missing a beat and refusing to look at the damage her seeker had caused, Callie snapped at him, "Get into the trailer, NOW!"

Thundercracker, who had been watching the wreckage for any sign of life, so that he could ensure that he _destroyed_ it properly, flinched slightly when Callie's hard voice broke through his haze.

Still riding the killing edge, Thundercracker snarled at his charge, causing her to snap at him again, "MOVE THUNDERCRACKER!"

He blinked unintelligible at her twice before slowly moving to the back of the trailer, optic still on the burning truck, afraid that a threat still existed. Callie moved just as fast with him as she did with Lucy; she packed him into the trailer like a sardine and bolted to the cab of the truck without tying the ribbon to his pede. Thundercracker couldn't find it in him to care.

As the truck pulled away, and proof of his destructive behaviour left his field of vision, Thundercracker began to calm. He began to ventilate again, taking slow, deep intakes of air to calm his still spinning processor.

Slowly, he backed away from the killing edge and his violent threshold lowered along with his need to do violent things. The joy he had felt from the thrill of his vicious actions melted into a hallow feeling of despair.

This was not unusual; Thundercracker usually felt his way, this empty after a battle or cruel behaviour. Most Deception's did, it was why so many continued to do bad things, continued to search for battle; just so they could feel _something_ for just a little while.

Usually Skywarp would bring back the happy feelings, reminding Thundercracker that there was a life outside of battle and that everything would be okay. Today though, there was no one there to bring him back up, and a dark guilt joined the vast emptiness.

What must Callie and Lucy think of him? They had seen the monster inside, his true self that was seen more often than not. That was who he really was; a mindless, deadly killing machine. Not this kind, caring mech they thought him to be, tried to make him be.

A monster is what he was, and he needed to return to his own kind.

His optics stung with unwanted tears, but the seeker forced them down. He didn't deserve those tears or Callie's kindness. She should have left him on the road to deactivate back in Nebraska. No doubt that was what she was thinking at the moment. She couldn't even _look_ at him, because he was a...

Monster.

The truck was speeding along I-15, heading closer and closer to L.A. 'Good,' Thundercracker thought, belittling himself, 'soon I'll be out of their lives and won't wreck it any more than I already have.'

The truck suddenly began to slow down, pulling to the side of the road, causing the seeker to flinch. He couldn't help but wonder if Callie would just dump him on the side of the road, he wouldn't blame her if she did.

Finally coming to a complete stop, the truck turned off and Callie stayed in the truck. Thundercracker could practically see her sitting at the driver seat, realising that she was towing a monster around and wondering what she was going to do now. Her dark blue eyes would be down cast and frightened of him.

The seeker sighed, knowing it was too good to be true, knowing that his time in the sun had ended, so to speak. The driver side door opened and he could hear Callie get out of the truck, and pause for a moment. He could hear her reaching in to pick up Lucy, carrying the small girl to the trailer doors.

Fear and guilt twisted Thundercracker's tanks; he didn't want to deal with them. Not yet, he still needed to get his mind right. Her small blonde head appeared at the gap in the doors, and she still refused to look at him.

Instead she placed Lucy on the edge of the trailer and reached up to unlock the lock and threw the doors open. Without saying a word, Callie picked Lucy back up and left the opening. Lucy buried her small head into her sister's shoulder, hiding her face from the seeker. A small niggle from the back of his processor told him that Lucy was a sparking and that he should try to make it better for her.

Shoving that line of code away, no doubt a glitch from the memory, Thundercracker slowly slithered from the trailer. He took more time than usually, not wanting to deal with the confrontation that was waiting for him just on the other side of the thin metal. He wished that things could have gone back to the way it had been before the incident. But his wishes never worked.

Callie was sitting in the driver seat of the truck when he finally came around the side of the trailer, the door thrown wide open and her small body facing the exit. Her watery eyes were down cast and she chewed on her knuckle in worry, still not meeting his optics.

Lucy stood by her sister's knee, watching Thundercracker with wide, tearful eyes, just watching him with no emotion.

Sighing, the seeker sat down in his customary spot beside the trailer, with his back against it. He looked away from the pitiful sight that had become his humans, gathering his courage. He owed her an explanation, it was the most he could do for her.

Taking a deep intake of air, Thundercracker turned his helm back to the shell shocked humans, "Listen Callie, I'm sor-"

The words died in this throat when Callie finally looked up at him, tears rolled down her smooth checks. It forced him to look away, unable to watch when he knew it was his fault she was crying like that. After all, he was a monster. How could he ever have possibly thought he could be her friend.

He heard her get out of the truck again, slowly walking to where he sat. His massive frame tensed, bracing himself, Thundercracker waited for her rage, her hurt, her disgust.

Instead he felt her small hands on his thigh and with a grunt of effort she pulled herself up to sit on the blue armour. Looking through a half shuttered optic, the seeker watched as Callie leaned over the edge of his thigh and offer her hand to Lucy.

The younger blonde took it and Callie lifted her up as well. He tensed further, ready, waiting, wanting to take whatever punishment they gave him. He deserved it.

He offlined his optic and waited for the blow to come; instead he felt Callie press her small body against his undamaged abdominal plating and cling to him. Lucy settled on the other side of her sister, her even smaller hands digging into the seams in his hips, not painfully, just there.

Callie sobbed into his side suddenly, "Thank you." She breathed.

Stunned, Thundercracker whipped his helm around to look at her; Lucy had settled so close to her sister, that she pressed her small body into the larger one.

Tears ran down both girls faces as they looked up at him for the first time, looking up at him like he was a...a...hero?

Confusion hit the seeker next. He didn't understand, they had seen what he had done, what he was capable of doing. Had run away from him, wouldn't look at him because he was a monster. Hadn't they?

"I. What?" he asked dumbly.

Fresh tears slid down Callie's face as she whispered, "I said thank you. You saved us. Those men, they would have." The farm girl stopped, looking down, unable to say the words, "They would have hurt us. You saved us TC. No one's ever saved us before that wasn't family."

The last part came out so soft, so quiet, that something broke within the powerful seeker, and cold tears of energon rolled down his checks. Keeping his voice steady, he managed to say, "I don't understand. I killed those men."

"Men who tried to rape me." Callie countered, looking up at him still like he was her hero.

Tears still rolling down his scared checks like a youngling, Thundercracker frowned, "But. You ran from me. Wouldn't look at me."

Callie frowned up at him, "I ran to get us away from the area before the police got there, and I was in shock. I'm sorry if you got the wrong impression TC." She paused for a moment, "I just didn't want the police to get there and take you away."

Staring dumbfounded at the human Thundercracker could only blink down at her. Moving his arm so that it lay across his lap, he used his other servo to first pluck Callie then Lucy off his thigh and set them on his forearm. Moving it slowly and carefully, he brought it up to his chest plates.

Pressing his forearm against his chest plates Thundercracker sighed when both girls clung to his cock-pit, still shaking from the incident. Drawing his knees up so that he could support the arm they sat on, Thundercracker wrapped his other arm around them, so that the other forearm acted as a back rest, blocking the world out.

Callie's small hands clung to his plating hard, almost as though she were afraid he would leave if she didn't, her small body trembling, "Thank you Thundercracker."

"You're welcome Callie." He responded in an equally soft voice as something Thundercracker couldn't identify filled him. It certainly felt better than the emptiness that he usually felt after a battle...or a slaughter.

Callie managed a grin, "Next time, don't wait so god damned long."

The corners of his lip plates flickered up for a moment, "I'll try." He said gently.

She smiled again before letting her head drop down to the glass of his cock-pit; pressing her lips against the glass, she gave him a small thank you kiss before resting her head against the reinforced material.

Her body still shook, but it wasn't because of him, Callie thought him to be a hero. That odd feeing swelled some more, and Thundercracker wondered if this is what the Autobots felt after they saved someone. If it was, he could see the appeal.

Turning his helm slowly to look at Lucy, to ask her if she was alright, Thundercracker froze when he finally laid optics on her. That niggling in the back of his processor had gotten worse, becoming a full blown realisation; he saw Lucy as a sparkling. Not a human youngling or offspring, but a slagging Cybertronian sparkling.

Panic rocked him, knocking the unknown happy feelings from his processor; coding overrode those feelings, demanding that he do something to make the sparkling happy, and before he could stop himself he cooed at Lucy, producing a smile and a laugh from the girl.

A smile flickered over his face plates before he could stop it, "Thank you TC." she said gently, curling further into his chest, a flicker of a smile passed over his mouth again.

How did this happen? How was this possible! He shouldn't see any other species young as a sparkling, so how?

Lucy sighed in content against his chest, reminding Thundercracker of Skywarp, causing the seeker to freeze. Like Skywarp. Had he begun to associate Lucy with Skywarp to the point that he saw Lucy as the sparkling Skywarp used to be? Was that even possible? It had to be, his processor was screaming at him to protect her, to make the situation better.

Inwardly he sighed, showing none of his discomfort outwardly, he didn't want to ruin the soft moment between them. The situation had just become slightly more complex, as if the whole thing wasn't hard enough already.

If he saw Lucy as a sparkling, which his coding would _demand_ that he protect her at all costs, would Skywarp and Starscream see the same thing? Would that instinct be passed through the trine bonds, affecting the other two?

If that was the case, they would be in so much trouble, as their own coding would fight against them. Preventing them from harming any human child, and that was something that Megatron would see as a weakness; a weakness that they couldn't afford.

Shoving those thoughts a side, with everything else he didn't want to deal with, Thundercracker tightened his hold around the girls. He would get them to L.A first and then figure out what he was going to do. There had to be a way to make this work, he just wasn't seeing it yet.

'Later,' he thought to himself as he held the girls, refusing to move until they were ready, until their bodies managed to stop shaking.

()()()

Hound looked at the scene with a deep frown of dismay. The humans that had come to put out the fires and remove the bodies had labelled the wreck as an 'accident of unknown origin'.

The jeep, however, knew what the origin of the scorched road and burnt bodies were, but couldn't understand why Thundercracker would suddenly act with such violence. Thus far he had be fairly peaceful, much to the trackers surprise, with the humans. So this kind of brutality made absolutely no sense to him.

"Do you still think he's going to L.A. Hound?" Sunstreaker's cool, but concerned voice asked from behind. Looking over his green shoulder plating, Hound could see the twins worried and angry blue optics staring at what was left of the truck that the seeker blew up.

Nodding, Hound muttered, "L.A."

"Then let's go catch the bastard! Make him pay for this!" the crimson twin snarled, his servo waving wildly at the destruction before them.

Sighing Hound nodded. He hated battle, but understood the reason for it; he would much rather just, as corny as it sounded, make peace not war, "We need to comm. Prowl. Let him know what's going on and get some back up to L.A. There's no need for any more human life to be endangered because of him."

Sunstreaker was silent as he stared at the wreckage, his twin was much more vocal, "We had best hurry," Sideswipe snarled, "There's no telling what he's doing to those poor humans. We need to get them away from him before he snaps and kills them to."

Hound nodded in agreement. As Sideswipe radioed into Prowl on their current situation, Hound made a solemn vow to get the humans that had been forced to help Thundercracker away from the psychotic seeker by any means necessary.

()()()

**TBC...**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Next chapter? L.A Baby!


	9. California Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little bit of IDW and Bay verse in this one, totally AU I know. But much more fun :D  
> As always, thanks so much to Brighter Than The Sun, Sunny who did all the beta work for this chapter. Great as always!  
> Chapter 10's teaser will also be posted on my live journal account if anyone is interested. It will be under the same pen name as here.

**Important Information**

"..." Speaking

:...: comm. link

' _ **...'**_ bonded speech

'...' thinking

 **Astrosecond** \- 2.5 earth Seconds

 **Klik** \- 150 earth seconds/ 2.5 earth Minutes

 **Orn** \- 150 earth minutes/ 2.5 earth Hours

 **Joor** \- 60 earth hours/2.5 earth Days

 **Metacycle** \- 17.5 earth days/2.5 earth Weeks

 **Vorn** \- 10 earth weeks/2.5 earth months

 **Stellercycle** -30 earth months/2.5 years

 **Breem** -slang for a moment/minute.

 **Night Cycle** : star down to star up

 **Day Cycle** : Star up to star down

 **Disclaimer** : I own only my OC's, nothing else. Nor do I own the song California Love.

()()()

Thundercracker shifted as he came out of the light recharge he had slipped into. He wondered, for a moment, what could have woken him up. Moving his dark helm awkwardly and twisting his neck into an uncomfortable position to look out of the window, the corners of his mouth plates twitched up when he saw Callie pumping gas.

She was singing, quiet terribly, along with the radio and dancing on the spot, "California, Knows how to party! California-a-a, knows how to partaaaah! In the city, citaaaay of L.A"

The seeker chucked to himself as he heard her continue to sing the song, oblivious to the fact that he was listening. He would have to tease her about this later he thought to himself as he set his helm back down against the side of the trailer.

Suddenly feeling very tired, Thundercracker began slipping back into a light recharge, knowing that he was so drained because of his injuries and he needed medical attention soon. His body was burning through the diesel faster now, becoming less affective each time.

Thundercracker still hadn't figured out what he was going to do with the girls, and how he was going to protect them once he went back to the Nemesis. He'd figure it out later, right now he wanted to just rest, save his energy. Cycling down his optic, Thundercracker slipped back into recharge, feeling better about his situation since the beginning of the debacle.

Callie happily paid for the gas that she pumped and jumped back into the truck. She sighed in relief when she passed the massive green sign with white writing that read 'Welcome to California.'

She was finally home, and things had, _had_ , to get better. After all, after the incident out on I-15, how could they get any worse?

()()()

Sergeant Robert Epps looked around Jetfire's white cabin with a frown; all around him things were too still, every one too tense. To his right, the Autobot leader, Optimus Prime sat tall and firm like an opposing statue, staring with hard blue optics at the opposite wall.

To his left, Major William Lennox sat with the same stillness as the Autobot leader, his dark eyes staring blankly at nothing, lost in thought. Worry knotted in the Sergeant's gut, and he knew the usually rowdy tendency of this particular group was only subdued due to that same worry.

In the far corner, Jazz, with his black and white paint job and Mirage, in white and blue, were discussing soft extractions and the chances of fatalities. Beside Mirage, Preceptor was standing; supporting his weight by gripping the railing above their helms. His face was serious, optics offline, his targeting monocle eerily dark, and his black servo griping the butt of his rifle. His thumb gently rubbed a small patch on the metal of his weapon, a sign of his own worry and nervousness, which was the true reason that the mostly red mech didn't sit.

Ironhide sat across from Optimus, thick red arms crossed over his heavily plated red chest. His large red canons were armed and ready to be utilized. All he needed was a target. Ratchet sat beside Ironhide, his own white arms crossed over his white chest, his face plates pulled down in a worried frown.

Prowl stood beside Jazz, his solemn face focused down on the data pad in his pale servo; said data pad contained the scant information that they had on the current situation. Hound and the twins had managed to track Thundercracker, one of the more deadly, vicious seekers to L.A.

He had already killed three people in his cross country travels. But worse, however, was the fact that he had hostages. Hound didn't know how many hostages Thundercracker had or if they were even okay, all the Autobots and the Nest operatives knew was that they had to find them and get them away from the psychotic seeker.

Prowl's door wings suddenly arched a fraction higher, a sign that Epps had begun to realize meant he was communicating over his private comm. lines.

Looking up from the data pad, Prowl's cool, crisp voice called out, "Sunstreaker has just informed me that they have reached the city of Los Angeles. Hound found more energon droplets just outside of the city limits and he is very confident that Thundercracker is there. The twins and Hound have just split up to cover more ground to search for Thundercracker. They have been ordered to call for assistance should they find him."

A few of the other Nest members shifted uncomfortably, they would be getting to L.A soon as well and who knows what they would be dealing with.

Breaking his hard stare from the wall, Optimus turned his dark blue helm to face his second, "Thank you Prowl." Optimus's voice rumbled gently, despite his size, "The others are well?"

It was a double edged question, and the tactician knew it; in part Optimus wanted to know how his mech's were fairing, but also in part to know how Prowl would be fairing in the near future.

His SIC had been the one to find the twins when the Autobots had raided the gladiator pits in Iacon, purging the gruesome games from the city, and the situation had been...spark breaking to say the least, something no one involved wanted to discuss with outside parties. However, because it had been Prowl who had found the twins, and Ratchet doing all of the delicate repair work it had lead to the volatile frontliners to trust the two mech's more than anyone else.

Time and gentle care had created a strong bond between the four, with Optimus's SIC and CMO becoming surrogate creators for the twins, standing in as the only parental forces the twins had. They may not always get along, but then again who always got along with their children? Either way the Prime could still see the love between the four.

Almost every prank Sideswipe preformed was to make Ratchet laugh and forget about war, for just a little while, and draw Prowl's attention away from work and to him. It was the crimson mechs way of telling the other two he still cared. Sunstreaker did the same, in his own way. He was always the one to guard the tactician or medic when on the battle field, guarding them with a vicious sort of intent and always watching their back above all others, even his Prime.

Although Optimus knew Prowl would never let his work slip should anything happen to the twins. The Prime also knew that his tactician would keep all his worry and hurt bottled to a breaking point; it would take days and it would be after Prowl was sure that no one else would be harmed, but the tactician would eventually have an emotional breakdown that would over load his battle computer and cause a full blown shut down.

He did the same whenever Jazz was injured, throwing himself into his work to take his mind off the situation until he was forced into shut down. Over the Stellercycles of working with Prowl, Optimus knew what to watch for now, knew the signs and knew when to have Ratchet put his tactician on medical leave before he fried his battle computer.

Prowl's white helm shifted down in a tiny nod, "They are fine. A little under fuelled and Sunstreaker is already complaining about his paint job."

From beside Epps, Lennox let out a low sigh, his shoulders visibly dropping with relief, as small as it was; the three Autobots had been out of communication for far too long and when they finally did call home, it was to request back up. The Autobots had lost too many of their own in the past not to worry, and because the higher ups worried, the humans worried too.

Instead of relaxing however, Epps became tenser, more anxious, and could feel every man and mech in the cargo hold do the same. Preparing, waiting for the next battle. They still had to track down Thundercracker and hope that he had not harmed the people that he had hijacked.

The sergeant was just as worried for the two frontliners and the tracker as he was for the humans; in the years that the Autobots and Nest had been working together they had become close, brothers in arms, a somewhat dysfunctional family. Although dysfunctional, they were a family none the less and if that flying freak hurt either of the twins or Hound, Epps would see to it that the damned seeker's wings were clipped.

Sighing, the sergeant began doing his last check over his weapons and doing a quick ammo count as it kept him busy from thinking about all the things that could go wrong with taking a seeker prisoner; they were notoriously vicious. Epps knew that the twins, at least, could take care of themselves, but that wasn't the point.

The point was the twins, and Hound, were just as much a part of his family as Lennox and Optimus. Sure, Sunstreaker wasn't thrilled with the arrangement, but it was what it was and God have mercy on anyone who dared harm a member of their screwed up little family.

The tension increased as everyone mentally prepared for the next few hours as Jetfire began his descent. Epps just shoved all his worry into another part of his mind as he cocked his weapon. It was time to bring their boys home.

()()()

Daniela McCormick sat on a bench in the down town core of L.A. With her burgundy hair pulled into a high pony tail, she blended well into the city, no one giving her a second glance as she watched the cars go by from behind large sunglasses, and that was the way she liked it.

It also helped her do her more illegal activates when she didn't draw attention to herself; this also meant no tattoos, no piercings, no permanent identifying marks of any kind, if she could help it. The only visible mark she had was a scar above her left eye that ran through her burgundy eye brow and the hair had never grown back because of it.

That particular scar was courtesy of her cousin, Callie, when the blonde had hit her in the head with her hand cuffed hands; the edge of the cuff had caught her forehead, splitting it open and caused the shallow wound too bleed like a stuffed pig

The ruckus, however, had made the police officer pull over and allowed the pair to escape, still handcuffed. Danny's lips pulled into an amused smile as the memory; she still couldn't figure out why the officer had thought it a good idea to hand cuff two irate, drunk girls with their hands out front. Oh well.

Danny shifted on the uncomfortable seat with a sigh. She was aggravated and angry with herself; she had promised Callie that they would go straight after Boston, that she would stop stealing cars. What had that gotten them? Tied down to a single city, flat broke and having to sell the damn horses that's what! Even if Danny had only done half the amount of work that she used to, they could have kept the horses. Hell, if she did a quarter of what she used to do they would have been able to keep the horses.

'But nooooo, Callie wants to go straight.' Danny thought, slightly sarcastically to herself. If she was doing even a quarter of what she used to do, they could have afforded an apartment so they wouldn't have to live in the garage.

Ah well, no point crying over spilt milk, as they say. She also didn't like having to stay in one place for too long, it was too dangerous, made it too easy for others to track them down.

Danny understood Callie's want to stay in one place, as it provided a more stable environment for Lucy. Callie just wanted a better life for the youngest member of their family, they all did, but this whole 'going straight thing' wasn't going to work the way she had been hoping.

Their reputation was too well known, too many people wanted them to do work for them and even more people were angry because of the work Danny herself did. Things like this current Boston problem would continue to happen and there were only so many times they could just up and leave with what little money they had. Even if Danny sold the garage, they wouldn't have a lot of money for a move.

Which brought Danny back to her current predicament; they needed money to get out of L.A and disappear before the Boston people found the garage, but that was impossible to do without money.

She leaned back against the wooded bench, her black tank top ridding up to reveal her flat stomach and the long fish-bone white jagged scar that ran from one hip to the other. Her long fingers ran across the scar absentmindedly; most girls would have been ashamed of it, thinking it ugly. Danny on the other hand bore it with pride; after all if she could survive that, her current situation would be cake.

All they needed was money, and Danny had a plan.

Sure, Callie would be furious, but given the current situation she would understand. It's not like either of them could have predicted the gangster from Boston to track her down, so this technically was an emergency and during an emergency one had to do desperate things. At least, that's what Danny told herself as she continued to look down the street.

She had originally planned on doing a few jobs on the side without telling Callie in order to buy the horses back and pay for the first few months of boarding for her and Lucy. It wasn't fair that they had to surrender the last thing their father had given them, and before the Boston problem, Danny was determined to set that wrong right.

With a bitter sigh, Danny knew that, that plan would have to wait a few months more until they were away from L.A and clear of the men from Boston. She looked nonchalantly across the street and a grin spread across her pretty face. The answer to all their problems was sitting right there, all innocent and unsuspecting. A pair, PAIR, of Lamborghini's had been parked and left unattended on the busy street of L.A.

Danny's eye had automatically been drawn to the gold one first. A rare, but incredibly sexy color, the car thief had loved it on sight despite the dings and scratches that marred its perfect paint job.

She pouted a little at the sight of the condition to its paint job, clearly someone didn't love their car as much as they should, especially in a color like that.

"I'd treat you right love." she muttered to herself sadly, and it was the truth. If _she_ owned that golden beauty, he (yes he, because a car that was just that sexy was not a she to Danny) would never see rain or gravel roads and that pitiful paint job would be up to par with his sleek frame. _Not_ all dinged and scratched up with mud caking along his panels.

Sighing in almost a dreamy way, Danny tore her dark brown eyes away from the golden lambo to its crimson counterpart. The crimson paint had flecks of silver in it to add to its sparkle and sheen, but the owner of the red one was even more abusive to the poor car. There were easily twice as many dings and scratches in its once glossy paint and it made the car lover want to weep at the sight of it.

Huffing Danny crossed her muscular arms under her bosom as she considered her two choices; the gold paint, as fantastic as it was, usually only had buyers that wanted _that_ specific color, a specialised color. She could get more money for its parts, but a specific buyer would be hard to track down, the only down fall to having such a unique color.

Brown eyes shifted back over to the crimson lambo, that was no less sexy, but its ruby coloring was just slightly more common and would make finding a potential buyer just a little easier. Time was of the essence in the current situation that they had found themselves in, and that little bit of information sealed the deal for Danny.

Decision made, the car thief nodded to herself and stood from the bench. Despite the heat, Danny slipped her brown leather bomber jacket over her muscular body and carefully picked up her black shoulder satchel.

From inside, she pulled a thin, flat steel rod that had a hook at the end; it was a crude, simple tool, but nothing worked better to pull the lock up on a car, and she slipped it inside her coat. Pulling a pair of black gloves from the satchel, Danny pulled them on calmly.

Even if there _was_ a car alarm, hardly anyone ever looked your way if it went off; all were too wrapped up in their own lives to notice you. Also, as long as she acted like a ditz and make it look like you were fumbling for keys, you'd be okay long enough to get the hood popped to disable the alarm.

Stealing a car, in the middle of the day, on a busy street was difficult but not impossible; again, most people wouldn't even spare you a second look as long as you looked like you owned the car. Attitude was the biggest thing when it came to boosting cars, as long as you 'own' it, no one questions you. Besides most people were too wrapped up within their own lives to bother with what you were doing and in all the years Danny had been stealing cars, not once had _anybody_ even cast a glance her way.

The adrenalin rush that you get when getting away with a crime right under so many people's noses was also a pretty good reason to boost in the day time, or at least that's what Danny thought.

With adrenalin flushing through her veins, Danny slowly sauntered across the street, her hips swishing from side to side as she walked. Moving slow and looking as though she were approaching her own vehicle, Danny came up to the back end of the golden lambo first.

With light, too gentle fingers, Danny pressed the very tips of her gloved digits against the gold paint on the trunk of the Lamborghini, dragging them across the side of the golden frame and all the way to the hood, "Sorry sweet heart, another day." She told the gold lambo, not noticing how it seemed to shutter when she removed her gloved hand from its hood.

With a smirk, Danny calmly walked to the crimson lambo.

The moment the human's fingers touched Sunstreaker's battered paintjob, the volatile frontliner stiffened and suppressed a growl. It took every ounce of will power not to do something drastic, like transform and punt her back across the road, for touching his paint job.

" _ **Sideswipe, that slagging girl just touched my paint job."**_ Sunstreaker managed to snarl to his twin.

Sighing, the crimson twin sent a bolt of calmness and love to his younger brother, _**"There, there Sunny. I'm sure she meant nothing by it. Probably just an enthusiast."**_ He paused for a moment before adding, _**"Besides, it's not like she can make it any worse than it already is."**_

" _ **Don't call me Sunny, and it's not my fault my paint is so...so scratched!"**_ The golden frontliner snarled to his twin. Enthusiast or not, he didn't like her touching him.

Following the girls movements using his external scanners, Sunstreaker tensed a little when she came to stop beside his brother's driver door, _**"What in the Pit is she doing?"**_

" _ **I dunno."**_ The crimson twin responded, adjusting and tilting his mirrors up, so that he could 'look' at the girl. She was standing beside him, her small body loose and relaxed. She looked as though she didn't have a care in the world as she did a quick glance up and down the busy road.

With a hand as gentle and soft as silk, she reached for his door handle and opened his scissor door; a soft intake of air left the lambo as the driver side door whooshed gently opened up and above her small head. She looked down over her too large sun glasses, looking every bit surprised as Sideswipe felt.

Grinning to herself she muttered, "And sometimes, you just get that lucky." As she eased her way into his driver's seat and tossed her bag onto the passenger seat. Pulling, _something,_ from her coat the girl tossed the hooky thing beside her bag, which was quickly followed by her coat.

" _ **What in the slagging Pit is she doing!"**_ Sunstreaker's almost panicked voice came through Sideswipe's mind as the girl reached up and pulled his door closed. Even though the twins didn't always get along, Sunstreaker didn't want some _fleshling_ that they didn't know inside his brother.

Tamping down on his own panic and worry, the crimson mech responded to his brother with confusion coloring his tone, _**"I don't know. I think,"**_ he started as the girl reached under his steering wheel and pulled down hard on a panel in his dashboard. There was a sharp minor pinch as the interior gave and she carefully spliced certain wires, _**"I think she's stealing me."**_

" _ **Don't let her start your engine you slagging idiot!"**_ the younger twin snarled, his own engine revving with his irritation, but the girl didn't seem to notice that the golden lambo behind her didn't have a driver to do so.

Suddenly feelings of mirth and mischievousness floated across the bond from Sideswipes side, making the golden frontliner tense with concern, _ **"Just what do you think you're doing?"**_

The crimson lambo's engine turned over once, twice and started up on the third attempt, _**"Just think, we can cover more ground with a...a guild. She knows all the nocks and crannies of the city and we'll find Thundercracker that much faster."**_

There was a pause from Sunstreaker as the younger twin processed what his brother was telling him, _**"She doesn't know you're sentient! How in the pit is she supposed to help you!"**_

" _ **We'll cover more ground this way."**_ Sideswipe responded reasonably, as though this were a completely normal experience.

" _ **What, you think that this stupid girl is going to lead you right to Thundercracker? Do you have any idea how astronomically small that chance is! If by chance you do sense the seeker, what are you going to do? Dump her on the side of the road and say thanks for the help? Stop your foolishness Sideswipe. We're waiting for Hound to get here so that we may continue our search properly and he should be here soon. The sooner we can find Thundercracker the sooner we go home."**_

Sideswipe instead allowed the girl to guide his powerful Alt form out into the busy street with a smoothness of a professional, _**"You wait for Hound, Sunny. I'll check out this new lead, see if there's anything I can turn up here."**_ Sideswipe's voice was smooth, and if he had been in his bi-pedal form, he'd be smirking in glee.

Sunstreaker snarled to himself, starling a young couple who had been admiring his Alt form, causing them to jump back and stare in shock, _**"If she takes you apart, I'm not coming for you."**_

Sideswipe laughed at his brother over the bond, sending a spike of joy as the girl began to pick up speed along the roads, comfortable in his Alt from. His brother snarled again over the bond, sending a flare of annoyance before Sideswipe closed the bond off lightly enough to block his brother's feelings.

The crimson twin sank back on his wheels and enjoyed the drive; the girl's gentle weight in his driver's seat was vastly different from Robert or William's heavy weight, and neither of them drove stick very well, having a tendency to burn out his clutch from time to time. That was not a pleasant feeling.

The girl, on the other hand, changed gears with such ease and smoothness that the crimson mech nearly purred in appreciation; her lane changes were smooth and precise, her breaking was slow and methodical with no hard stops that would ware down his tires and her accelerations were slow, building up to speed with care. Not just slamming down on the gas pedal and peeling away from the light; in short, girly could drive.

It was a high, Sideswipe thought to himself, that more 'bots should experience, they would certainly be much calmer if they did; to relinquish control over ones frame and allow such a small and seemingly weak creature take over for a while. The feeling of someone else controlling his frame, surprising him with what they would do next, where they would take him was a feeling the crimson Autobot couldn't get enough of.

It was relaxing in some ways, knowing he didn't have to think for a while, just lean back and enjoy the ride, so to speak. Sideswipe silently thanked Bumblebee for bragging about how well Sam drove and the high he got form letting the human take over. The yellow Camaro went on to say that every human drove differently and it was a completely different experience when Sam drove him and when Carly drove him; breaking down the crimson lambo had eventually asked Epps to go for a drive one day, and he'd been hooked ever since.

Most 'bots thought he was crazy for letting the human's drive him, some even thought it was dangerous, foolish and just plain wrong; Sideswipe's response was 'Don't knock it till you've tried it.' Thus far, very few Autobots had actually trusted their human counter parts enough to relinquish that kind of control.

'Oh well,' the Autobot thought to himself happily, 'More driving for me.'

It was also part of the reason the frontliner had allowed the little car thief to take him without a fight; he was board with the driving skills with the men back on base. With the exception of Epps and Lennox, the rest of Nest's solider always were extremely careful with him, barley taking him out of second gear in fear of hurting or damaging him.

Like any of them could hurt him with their stunts and driving. He had done much stupider things on the battle field, and it was a little insulting that they thought he was so fragile; it was all too boring for the crimson prankster.

This girl, however, could provide some entertainment while he hunted for Thundercracker. She wouldn't go easy on him and would expect his Alt mode to perform at top condition as she took him through his paces. Sure Prowl would have his bumper for this, and Sunny would no doubt shoot him the next chance he got, but at the moment, Sideswipe didn't care. All he cared about was the road beneath his tires, the small weight in his driver's seat and the revving of his engine. He'd deal with the consequences later.

Excitement flooded Sideswipes systems as she started heading to the highway, knowing that she could handle the horse power in his engine and silently thanked Bumblebee once again for always bragging about the feeling of freedom he got when Sam took him out for a drive.

The girl grinned as she drummed her fingers against his steering wheel, "Alright Red," she said suddenly, "Let's see if your insides are as beat up as your outsides."

Sideswipe very nearly answered that his insides were in perfect working order and to 'bring it', but caught himself when he remembered he was just a car to her. He couldn't talk to her like he did Epps or Lennox. 'Too bad,' Sideswipe thought almost disappointedly to himself, 'she looks like the type that'd be fun to hang around base with.'

The girl began to accelerate as they came onto the high way, her small foot pressing slowly into the gas pedal as her heart began to beat faster in her chest; he could smell adrenalin flush through her veins and instead of fear he could sense she had the same giddy kind of excitement that he felt.

'Oh yes, this girl could be a lot of fun at the desert base.' Sideswipe mused with a flare of amusement as his engine hit fourth gear with ease and his RPM gauged steadily climbed higher as they flew down the high way, easily breaking the speed limit. Cars were a blur around them as she easily steered around them with practice ease.

The human hummed a happy little tune as she manoeuvred Sideswipe's Alt form down the highway, and the lambo couldn't help but think that chasing that stupid seeker across the country was so worth it for this dive.

()()()

With tanks churning in a nauseated way, making the walls of the trailer spin unhappily, Thundercracker was too weak to do more than just lay in a weak misery. He needed medical attention and he knew it; red warning signs flashed across his HUD ordering him to drink proper energon before he was forced into stasis.

Sighing, Thundercracker tried to make his helm stop spinning as he, for the first time since he had been shot down those few days ago, wished Skywarp was with him. His little purple and black mate would have sat beside his blue frame, holding his servo and petting his wings while he waited for the nausea to pass. A source of comfort and something stable in his shaky world.

He continued to gently brush those continuing warnings away, simply ignoring them, as he worked out his plan of attack on the situation. All he had come up with was first going back to the Nemesis and getting Hook to put his sorry aft back together, and after that somehow convince Skywarp into helping him run patrol around the girls home until...well he wasn't sure how long he was going to do this or even if he could even _convince_ his mate into helping him do this. It was a thin, lame, pathetic plan, but what else could Thundercracker do?

He had already decided that he would not completely abandon the girls, nor his trine and his half baked plan was the best he could come up with. He'd figure something else out after he was repaired and re-energized, maybe _somehow_ convince Starscream to help him as well.

The blue seeker snorted to himself at that thought and figured that it must be the lack of energon making silly, crazy, half bit plans like that cross his processor. 'Probably shouldn't have shot that energy bolt earlier today, wasted too much energy to do so.' Thundercracker thought bitterly to himself as he closed his optic for the hundredth time in a desperate bid to make the spinning stop.

However, if he hadn't attacked those human's, those cowards- _because they were not men_ \- would have hurt Callie, and made Lucy watch. Scarred them more than they already were. They had to die, he told himself and he knew he'd do it again without question. The seeker just wished he didn't feel so...sick because of it.

Soon, he'd be strong again.

The trailer suddenly stopped and Thundercracker nearly purged what was left in his tanks as Callie started backing it up. Feelings of gratefulness that the seeker had ever known filled Thundercracker when the trailer stopped backing up, coming to a complete, blissful, stop.

Struggling to listen for Callie's light footsteps, Thundercracker fought to stay conscious and it bothered him that he couldn't hear his little human as she left the truck. He had felt the door slam shut, but couldn't hear the noise.

'I'm weakening.' He thought angrily to himself as an undertone of worry knotted his tanks.

He felt Callie throw open the doors and she no doubt said something along the lines of welcome home, but nothing came to the seekers audios. He tried to focus on her blonde head, but it was all a blur of color, and darkness began creeping into the edges of his vision.

Holding up a servo to as a request to give him a moment, Thundercracker shuttered his optic, giving his processor enough time to sort out the damage; systems re-routed and some shut down in order to keep his spark burning and his processor functioning.

His sense of touch became dulled to sacrifice energy to his optics and audios, so when Callie touched his toe plate to sooth his hurt away, it felt as though she was pressing through a barrier between his metal and her flesh. He always found it funny, that human's always sought out touch as comfort, and now he had taken that ability away from her.

Stifling a sigh, Thundercracker onlined his optic and was pleased to see that Callie was crystal clear in his vision, standing on the edge of the trailer with her hand reached up against his pede. He nearly laughed when he could hear her voice, "Are you okay TC?"

Her voice was soft and low, but it was music to his audios, "Watch yourself Callie." He told her instead of answering, "I would like to get out as well."

Callie frowned at him, cocking her head to the side. She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it instead with a nod. She easily jumped from the side of the trailer and allowed the seeker to slowly, painfully slither his way from the trailer, hopefully for the last time.

Coming from the trailer, Thundercracker was forced to his knees to duck under a large bay door. Callie stood inside the garage, leaning against a wall, the chain to close the tin door in her hands. Glancing up, the seeker saw the tin door had been pushed up, curled around the roof to open.

Looking back at Callie, she flashed him a saucy smile, "Welcome to our home, TC." She told him quietly, using an arm to wave behind her and into the garage; the space was massive, easily able to fit four, maybe even five cars inside.

To the far left were two wooden work benches, both covered in tools and parts, no doubt from Danny working on something. The wall directly behind the benches was full of even more tools hanging from it. Straight across from the benches was a human sized door that was parallel with the single bay door. Pressed up between the bay door and the human door were two, large, red steel tool boxes; the tops were open and the seeker could see more tools inside.

To his far right, and under a loft that served as living space, was the crimson Shelby Cobra from Callie's story, and it sparkled in the dim light from the dirty widows of the garage. Beside the stair case was yet another work bench with even more tools, and the seeker distantly wondered why this girl kept so many damn tools. Black stools with long metal legs were at every work station, almost as if Danny simply refused to take anything away from any station she had set up.

Behind the car was a storage space in which Thundercracker could see a fridge and shelves pressed up against one wall, but nothing else.

The loft was separated into four rooms; a steal, somewhat rickety looking stair case lead up to a narrow corridor and the only wall held the four doors. On the other side of the corridor was a steal railing that prevented any foolish people from falling to their deaths, yet still allowed the residence to look down into the work bay.

Directly across from where the seeker knelt was where the stair cases began. Lucy was sitting on the bottom step of the stairs, her small smile beaming up at him.

"Hey TC? Are you alright?" Callie's soft voice drew the seeker's attention back down to her worried face.

"Fine." He told her gruffly, his voice shorting a little.

She blinked up at him, her blue eyes narrowing in worry, "I don't believe you." She paused, canting her head again as though studying him, "Why is your armour greying?"

A small jolt of shock caused the seeker to jump and look down at his armour; gone was the shinning, healthy blue armour that he had had just hours ago. It had become a dull greyish blue and that frightened the seeker more than anything else.

Greying armour was the first signs of death. There was no doubt about that and he had seen it before; armour sheen and optic brightness were the first to go. Working his throat cables, mimicking the way human's would swallow, the seeker softly asked, "Does my optic seem duller now?"

Callie tipped her head up, her eyes squinting as she studied his ruby optic. Slowly she said, "Yeah. It does seem kind of duller than usual."She paused when he cursed, tipping his helm down to look away from her, "That's bad, isn't?"

Not moving any further into the garage, Thundercracker nodded, "How bad TC?"

When he refused to answer, Callie released the chains to stand with her hands on her hips. Using what Danny called her 'Mother Voice' Callie snapped at the much larger being, "How _bad_ is it Thundercracker."

He growled at her, but tipped his helm back to her small body. Shooting a glance at Lucy, whose smile had faded into a worry frown, Thundercracker shifted his gaze back to Callie, "Those are signs of a constantly weakening frame." He paused, knowing there was no reason to hide from Callie, and she'd just keep harping at him until he cracked anyways.

That thought gave Thundercracker a pause; he had spent time in an Autobot interrogation room and not once had he cracked. Yet this silly little girl could make him spill his slagging guts without trying. Stupid human, stupid lack of energon, stupid Autobots.

Sighing, Thundercracker dropped his voice so that Lucy couldn't hear him, "Those are the first signs of death."

Her firm face fell into shock as her faced paled at the information, "What. But, you were okay just a little while ago."

He peered down at his arm with a frown, "It appears that when I took that shot earlier today, I expended too much of my energy. I am merely paying that price."

"I can. I can get you more diesel." Callie said, her voice suddenly low and quiet.

A shake of his helm, "Won't do any good now. Too far gone."

Callie bit at her lower lip, dropping her eyes, "I know we're far from your mate, but we're safe now right? Far enough away from the Autobots, right? You need to contact Skywarp over your bonds."

He gave her a half smile, an odd kind of pride swelling that she could use Cybertronion terms so easily now, "I will. I just need you to...leave for a breem."

Callie crossed her arms under her breasts with a worried frown, her previous shock replaced with her special brand of concern and annoyance, "Oh hell, no! If this is going to be worse than the diesel back lash, no way I'm leaving now."

Shoulders dropping, Thundercracker knew his energy levels were dropping, "Callie this is different." He held up a servo to silence her, "This is an emotional back lash. I have not spoken to my mate for almost a week and I wish to give him my undivided attention. So _please_ make yourself scarce for few breems."

Callie huffed and glared up at him. After a moment of studying him Callie sighed, "Fine. I'll go move the truck and unhook the trailer. You have until then." She jerked her small head towards the far wall to indicate for him to come inside, "Come on. Get in."

The seeker managed a half sigh as he slowly crawled the rest of the way into the garage. He slowly made his way to the only empty wall in the building, the one directly across from him, turning when he reached it. Leaning his broken back against the bare, concrete wall, the seeker relaxed against it, "Thank you Callie."

Callie frowned at him as she pulled down hard on the chain and the bay door slide closed. She turned her attention to Lucy, who had yet to move from her spot on the stairs, "Go up stairs and take our bags to our room. Stay there until I call you."

"Ohhh, but I want to show the others Thundercracker!" Lucy whined at her sister, throwing a sulky look at the seeker.

"You may _introduce_ Thundercracker to the others when TC's done calling home. Now go." Callie said firmly, causing her little sister to huff with aggravation and stormed up the metal stairs and disappeared into one of the rooms.

Callie shot the blue jet one more worried glance, and he couldn't stop the flare of warmth that spread throughout his spark at her worry, "You have until I come back. That's it."

He gave her a curt nod and Callie marched to the door at the side, leaving the building. Once she was gone and the door shut, the seeker relaxed just a little more against the wall and cycled down his optic. Slowly, tentatively, the blue seeker opened his bond for the first time in days.

He tried to keep it controlled, keep the contact to a minimal until he could once again adjust to having the bond wide open and having Skywarp's wild emotions from bombarding his processor. Unfortunately, the moment that Skywarp felt Thundercracker begin to nudge the bond open, the younger flyer slammed into his mate, ripping the bond wide open.

The sudden and sheer force of the contact caused the damaged seeker's frame to spasm painfully from the backlash of negative emotions. Feelings of hopelessness, fear, worry, and anxiety all flashed across Thundercracker's mind, causing his spark to clench painfully from it all. What had happened to his little mate and trine leader to cause this kind of strong reaction? He was so far away, that Skywarp should not have been able to affect him to this degree, and the fact that he could only confirmed that something very bad had indeed happened back on Nemesis.

Venting deeply, Thundercracker allowed the feelings to swirl around his spark, numbing is processor, until Skywarp was ready to back away long enough to have a real conversation. Words would do nothing but complicate things for the moment, and the blue seeker managed to wrap his own consciousness around the frazzled mind of his mate, sending soft bolts of calm over the bond. Finally sensing that his mate was hurting from his dark emotions, Skywarp backed away from the bond, dragging his bad feelings out of Thundercracker's spark.

A dull ache replaced Skywarp's turbulent feelings making Thundercracker's processor spin again with the sudden loss of contact, causing the blue seeker to groan as the sick feeling began to creep up on him again.

Skywarp did not back completely out of the bond, and Thundercracker could still feel his mate just on the outskirts of his awareness, waiting for Thundercracker to pull him back in. Feelings of dread and worry still slipped through Skywarp's carefully placed semi blocks, causing the other seeker to shutter.

Reaching out gently to Skywarp, Thundercracker managed to use words as he sent feelings of love and calm to his worried mate, _**"Alright Skywarp, its okay now."**_

 _" **Thundercracker..."**_ the mostly purple seeker whined over the bond as first relief then love pooled slowly into the other seeker, Skywarp taking his time returning to his mates mind. Thundercracker's own love echoed back causing the purple seeker to whoop with joy and sudden feelings of happiness and giddiness filled the usually serious seeker.

A happy smile split across the mech's cracked face plates, feeling something other than worry or guilt. Joy, pure and simple filled him now that he could finally talk to Skywarp, _**"Awe, 'Warp. I've missed you these past few days."**_

 _" **I. Me too. I mean, I've missed you too TC. Want you back."**_ The last part came out as a desperate plea from his mate, and it was something Thundercracker could give him.

_" **I know 'Warp. I'm sending you my coordinates, and when you get here I want you to...meet some people."**_

_" **People? As in fleshies?"**_ Confusion and mild disgust come from Skywarp's side of the bond, but Thundercracker was resolved to ignore it. The purple seeker had been conditioned to hate those weaker than himself, but so had Thundercracker himself and clearly he had gotten over his hate. The blue seeker desperately hoped that his little lover could do the same, then all they had to de was convince Starscream it was alright as well.

_" **Yes, 'Warp. Fleshies. Before you argue, they saved my life. At least don't kill them if for any other reason than that."**_

_" **Saved you?"**_ Suspicion marred Skywarp's tone, not entirely believing his mate.

Thundercracker chuckled, knowing that if the roles were reversed, he would be suspicious as well, _**"Yes Skywarp, saved me. I've had a bit of an..um. Adventure. I'll tell you all about it after you come get me and back to base."**_

There was a moment of nothing from his mate and Thundercracker wondered if Skywarp had put up blocks or if something had happened to him. Just as suddenly feelings of joy burst from the purple jet's side of the bond once again, and Thundercracker very nearly laughed with the sudden giddy happiness.

It was only then that the blue seeker realized that he was sick and tired of feeling sick and tired, _**"Alright TC,"**_ Skywarp's happy voice came over the bond again, _ **"Okay, I won't kill your fleshies. Only 'cus they helped you. But it's going to take me a while to get away from the Nemesis. Megatron is being...Megatron.**_

The blue seeker sighed, already having a feeling that Megatron was being an aft in his absence. The only question was how bad was it? _**"I should go TC. Find 'Screamer and tell him what's going on and all."**_

Tank dropping, Thundercracker looked around the empty garage bay. He wanted as much time with his mate before Callie came back, _**"Not yet 'Warp."**_ he said, not wanting to break contact was usually Skywarp's forte, but he felt as though he had been away for so long. The blue seeker glanced down at his greying armour, _**"A moment longer. I just...I just want to feel you a little longer."**_

Skywarp was more than happily to oblige and he sunk a little deeper into the bond. It was an indulgence, Thundercracker knew, but he really didn't give a damn. Sinking deeper as well, the usually serious seeker smiled a little and gave a small, happy sigh, _**"What's been happening at the Nemesis?"**_

 _ **"Nothing good."**_ Skywarp grumbled back in reply, annoyed that his quiet time with his mate was being disrupted.

 _ **"Have Megatron and Starscream been getting into it again?"**_ The blue seeker asked, concern slipping through the bond.

" _ **Yeah. It was bad this time Thundercracker**_ _ **."**_ The blue seeker could hear and feel his mate's hesitation and worry over the bond, _**"**_ _ **Worse than usual. Starscream was thrown in the Hole TC. But. Megatron...he. He hurt Starscream really bad this time."**_

His mate sounded so small and lost that it ignited the rage deep in Thundercracker spark. He tamped it down, sending waves of calm along the bonds, _**"**_ _ **But. Megatron always hurts Starscream. It can't be any worse than usual, right?"**_

The blue seeker could practically see his silly, happy go-lucky (sometimes joyfully psychotic) mate hunch into himself, looking small and unsure of himself with his wings pulled close to his back, _**"This was different Thundercracker. Brutal."**_ The purple and black mech whispered, his voice dejected even in the blue seeker's helm, not wanting to explain to his mate what had occurred.

The problem was, that wasn't Skywarp. Skywarp was that kind of happy crazy that when Megatron wasn't looking, he did the Macarena in the communications room, spoke in a high pitched, sing song voice and pranked the other residences of the Nemesis mercilessly.

Really, Skywarp just didn't do small and quiet, _**"**_ _ **It's alright Skywarp**_ _ **."**_ The blue F-15 said gently, sending soothing and soft feelings over the bonds, _**"I'll be with you soon. You can show me what happened sweet wings."**_

The blue seeker felt his mate's bashful embarrassment at the rarely used pet name and Thundercracker knew that Skywarp was no doubt smiling like a fool if his feelings of euphoria that trickled over the bond were any indication. It was better than the fear and worry he had been feeling before.

Hearing the small garage door open, the seeker sighed, _**"I need to go 'Warp."**_

Reluctance fluttered like a bird through Thundercracker's processor from Skywarp; the purple flyer clearly didn't want to give up the bond they had so recently opened, _**"I know 'Warp. I know. But you'll be here soon and we can get back to the Nemesis. Once I'm patched up properly we can have a good long merge and you can show me what's happened."**_

A hesitant voice came from Skywarp's side of the bond just as Callie came into the garage, _**"...We can interface too?"**_

Thundercracker couldn't help it and he chuckled at his mate, feeling better than he had all day. He held up a servo to Callie as she peered up at him with worry and confused eyes, _**"Yes 'Warp. You over sexed seeker, we can interface as well."**_ He made himself sound more exasperated than he actually felt.

There was a pregnant pause from the other seeker as he hesitated his next words, _**"I love you Thundercracker."**_

Those small, simple words felt like the sweetest energon to the damaged seeker. 'I love you' was not something that was commonly said between them on the Nemesis, too many audios around that could overhear those words. Too many to see the reaction of those words being passed over the bonds. Too grate of a chance for discovery. Sending love to each other was easy and something they did all the time, but to say those three little words?

It was a rare, tender moment that made the blue seeker's spark sing, _**"I love you too Skywarp."**_ feelings of joy, love and a slew of other happy emotions flew from the teleporter's side of the bond that made the blue mech smile. Sending a data pack with his current coordinates, Thundercracker sent a strong blot of love to his mate, _**"I'll see you soon."**_

Another feeling of love shot from Skywarp and Thundercracker clung to it like a life line. Slowly, half-heartedly, the seeker re-erected his blocks on the bond, silencing Skywarp from his spark.

He shrunk into himself a little at the sudden loss; it had been harder this time around to block his mate out after so long apart. The blue seeker snorted to himself at the thought. Four days, really wasn't that long.

"Well, you don't look any better, but you do look happier." Callie suddenly said with a smile that was too tight to be relaxed.

Thundercracker shrugged, straightening his face to a neutral mask. He had already made enough of a fool in front of his little human already; he didn't need her to see him acting like a giddy fool. Callie, however, was having none of that, "Oh stop it TC." she snapped at him as she gave him a light kick to his pede, "You're so enthralled with your mate that even I can see it. No point in hiding it."

She gave him a little smirk as he frowned down at her, "I dislike it how you can read me that easily." he mumbled.

Snorting, Callie put her small hands to her hips, "Oh please, like it was hard. You were grinning like a love sick puppy just a minute ago, I think a blind man could have seen it."

Forcing air through his vents, Thundercracker let out a long suffering sigh, "Of course." So much for his last shred of pride.

Shrugging her small shoulders, Callie tipped her small head down to look at his dull and greyish armour, "Is Skywarp on his way?"

"He is."

"You going to make it 'till then?"

Another sigh left the seeker, "Callie I am hardly at the edge of the Well of Sparks. I have two, maybe three days before I fall into stasis lock. Skywarp will be here with in enough time to get me to a medic."

Instead of reassuring her like he had hoped, Callie blinked blankly up at the seeker, "I have no idea what the hell you just said."

"Erm. Well of Sparks. Return back to the matrix?" she continued to stare blankly up at him, "It's like our heaven. Kind of. I guess."

He could see the moment when the light clicked in her head, "Oh. So saying you're 'on the edge of the Well of Sparks' is like saying at deaths door."

He thought about it for a moment, before slowly saying "Sure. I suppose."

Callie's blonde head tilted to the side, thinking "What's stasis lock?"

"It's what happens when our frames are too weak to conserve energy, so our bodies are forced into a shutdown to protect our processors and keep our sparks burning."

She narrowed her dark blue eyes as she thought about it, "So if you're badly hurt you would fall into stasis first then die?"

He gave a small shrug of one shoulder, "It can happen. However, just because one falls into stasis does not mean that they are going to die."

"Huh." Callie muttered, looking down as she thought about it. Needing to change the topic, Thundercracker took his chance with her silence, "So. Where's everyone else?"

Looking up, the girl managed a grin, "In their rooms probably. I'll get them."

She shot up the steal stairs, taking them two at a time and darted down to the furthest door. Opening it, Callie peeked her head inside, "Hey Lucy. You can come out now." Callie paused as her head turned from side to side, "Hm. No Danny?"

Lucy pushed passed her sister with a huff. She shot the older blonde a dirty look before marching down the narrow, one walled corridor to the stairs, "Nope. She wasn't in there."

The nine year old then marched down the stairs, head held high, shoulders back and headed straight to the seeker. Smirking to himself, the blue mech helped the little one up onto his knee as she sat with a huff of irritation. Arms crossed, she glared up at Callie almost as though she dared her sister to tell her to move. Rolling her eyes, Callie easily walked down to the middle door. Not bothering to knock, Callie opened the door and poked her head inside, causing the seeker to tense.

He had seen good mech's die from doing that same thing; going in to check if a room was clear by popping their helms in first and having said helm ripped off by an enemy. But he quickly shoved those thoughts down, this was Callie's home, this was a safe place. Well, okay maybe not safe, but non-threatening at least.

"Hey Mia, Aleyah we're home. Come here, I want you to meet someone." Callie called into the room.

As she pulled away from the door, a body suddenly flew from within, practically tacking Callie. Battle systems rising on instinct, Thundercracker tensed at what he thought was an attack only to force his systems to relax when he heard Callie laugh.

The body turned out to be a girl, clearly one of Callie's cousins, and she had the blonde crushed to her body in a bone crushing hug, "Callie!" an excited, high pitched voice squealed, "You're home! You're home! You're home! Danny will be so relieved!"

Callie managed to peel her overly excited cousin from her body, placing her hands on her bare shoulders and holding her at an arms length; the girl smiled at her blonde cousin with the biggest, happiest smile the seeker had ever seen. She wore a black shirt made from thin material that was pulled down past her shoulders and was tight around her narrow waist and a pair of denim capris pants that hugged her soft, curvy body. Glossy, perfect ringlets of a deep burgundy bounced around the girls olive toned face and shoulders. She had the brightest green eyes Thundercracker had ever seen on a human, mesmerizing him with the way they seemed to sparkle with her happiness. In short, the girl looked like a super model.

'Megatron would keep her as a pet because of her beauty.' Thundercracker mused to himself and was startled that it angered him. That thought shouldn't have...but if this girl was hurt, that would hurt Callie as well. Damn, the seeker thought to himself, he would have to protect Callie's family as well. It wouldn't do to have Callie upset because her cousin was being hurt. Resolved in his plans, Thundercracker settled a little more against the wall and waited for the overly happy girl to realize he was there. He was forced to wait longer than expected as the green eyed girl squealed again and seemed to hop on the spot with her excitement.

"Mia," Callie laughed, "calm down girl."

Mia's happy voice sing songed, "But I'm so happy your home! Danny has been so worried and things here have been so...blah." her hoping stopped and her face contorted into a slight grimace when she said 'blah' and Thundercracker found himself shaking his helm in disbelieve. There were four men who wanted to hurt them, and the word she chooses to express her feelings was, blah. 'No sense of survival in this one.' the seeker mused as he watched Callie and her cousin.

Another girl, Aleyah Thundercracker guessed, came to the door, smirking as she watched her cousin and sister as she leaned against the door jam. Aleyah was just as tall as Mia and Callie, but more muscular than the other two with less curves. While the other two wore their hair long, Aleyah's black hair was cropped incredibly short, only a few inches long and was jelled up into a small messy mohawk. She had the same olive complexion as her sister but hard brown eyes peered out under thin black brows. She wore a brown vest over a black sleeveless shirt and dark blue jeans.

"Welcome home Callie." she said quietly, neither noticing the damaged seeker that sat in the bay. Thundercracker sighed a little in confusion, not knowing how they couldn't notice him. 'Dumb humans,' he thought almost angrily, 'too blind to see what's literally in front of them.'

Mia started hopping again, making small circles around her cousin, her curls bouncing around her head, "Oh how was your trip? That's a long dri-" the words died in her throat as she came to a sudden stop beside Aleyah.

Her green eyes became wide saucers, her pupils dilating wide in her shock as she _finally_ noticed the seeker in their midst. The black haired girl frowned and finally looked passed Callie to Thundercracker and her jaw dropped in shock; her thin eyebrows drawing together in confusion.

Suddenly and unexplainably, Thundercracker became rather self conscious of his damages and greying armour; he was usually more put together than this, stronger than this. He was giving the humans a very poor example of a seeker warrior.

He pressed a matte black servo over the damage in his side and he squirmed slightly under their shocked gazes. Callie turned her head and smiled now that her cousins had _finally_ noticed Thundercracker, and was slightly endeared by the fact he seemed nervous, if his squirming was any indication despite his slight frown.

"Oh good," Callie laughed a little as she took her cousins by the shoulders and forced them to walk towards the stairs in their shocked state, "You two have finally decided to notice Thundercracker. About time, I was wondering when you two would. Danny would be disappointed, you know, that you two missed the, like twenty foot tall freaking alien in the garage. She's always telling you to pay attention to your surroundings." her voice was light and playful as she happily teased her cousins.

Coming to a stop at the top of the metal stairs, Callie grinned at the two and crossed her arms over her chest, "Ladies, this is Thundercracker." She told them proudly.

Taking the stunned silence of the two sisters, Thundercracker cleared his throat, "Actually Callie, I'm only sixteen feet tall." and he had to stop himself from saying 'Prime is closer to twenty' since she didn't know about Optimus and that was how he wanted to keep it.

Callie snorted, "Oh, my apologies. Wouldn't want to get it wrong then, would I? Anyway, this is Mia and Aleyah." The blonde said far too happily, and the seeker gave her two cousins a small nod of acknowledgment.

At Mia and Aleyah's shocked faces, Callie's grin just got bigger. Carefully walked around the two stunned girls, the blonde opened the last door, the one directly across from the stairs, and poked her head inside, "Hey Liz."

From his position, Thundercracker could see that Liz's room had at least four computers on a desk across from the door, so that when you walked in it was the first thing you would see. He couldn't see the girl inside, he could hear her soft voice call back, "Hey Callie. How was your drive home?"

"Not bad. Rather...eventful."

The other girl's soft laugh reached the seeker's audios, "Really?"

"Yeah really. Come on out and I'll show you who've I met."

Another soft laugh from the girl, and he could hear her move her chair to stand, "Who'd you meet? A rich bachelor?"

"Not quite."

Thundercracker wasn't sure what he expected to see when Liz came from her room, but what he saw was not it; the rest of her family was build tall, lean, and strong looking. Even Callie with her thin form had more muscle mass that the iddy bitty girl in front of him. Shorter than the rest of her family, Liz looked only came up to Callie's chest, at barley 4'11". Her blonde hair was pulled into two pigtails that framed her round, yet undeniably adorable, face. Soft brown eyes looked happily at Callie, and a splash of freckles spotted across her nose and cheek bones.

What Thundercracker just couldn't get over was how _small_ she was. There was not an ounce of fat on her too skinny frame and very little muscle, making her look more fragile than Lucy. The seeker figured that a strong wind could blow her over.

Wearing black boots with chunky heals that came part way up her smooth calf and a black skirt that clung to her like a second skin, she crossed her arms and started up at the seeker with a small frown. Her baggy dark blue shirt, that hung off one shoulder, wrapped around her small, almost boney, body in an awkward way. She tilted her head to the side, a pigtail falling off her shoulder.

"Liz," Callie said happily and waving a hand to the seeker, "This is Thundercracker.

Her small frown deepened, "You named it?"

Callie gave her younger cousin a shocked look, her shoulders drooping. Behind her Thundercracker sputtered in anger, "IT!"

Fist surprise then delight came over the girls face, "You can program it to talk!" she said softly, but happily, "That's so much fun. How much did you pay for it?"

Callie just blinked blankly at Liz while behind her Thundercracker looked horrified while he waited for Callie's brain to catch up, "Wait...wait what?"

Mia and Aleyah's shock melted to amusement as well. Mia smiled at the seeker, "Oh well duh! A robot! I thought he was real for a minute." She let out a soft giggle, "Imagine that. A real robot alien. You got us good Callie."

"I'd love to see its programming, whoever did it did a great job. It's so life like. The facial expressions are so real." Liz said happily as she studied Thundercracker.

Callie just stated, blank faced, jaw dropped at her cousins as her mind literally froze. Behind her Thundercracker's horrified expression melted into anger as he snarled at the girls, his one wing hiking up defensively. He shifted a little further away with another snarl.

Instead of cowering in fear, as they should have, both Mia and Liz gasped in amazement. "It's like it understands us and reacts accordingly!" Liz gasped happily.

"Like a giant, evil Furby!" Mia said happily.

Liz's smile dropped into a confused frown, "What?"

"An evil Furby. Do you remember when they were huge? I saw this news report and they were taking it apart, and it kept saying 'please stop. I scared.' Like it knew what was going on. It's like that."

Liz, still examining Thundercracker smiled gently at him, "It's artificial intelligence programming must be very advanced."

Callie was still frozen in her shock when Aleyah tossed her own two cents in, "How much did you pay for it? Danny is going to be so pissed when she gets home and realizes you bought this, broken down robot that's leaking pink shit all over the floor. Seriously Callie, what were you thinking? First you have to sell the horses because we have no money, and now we have to get out of L.A because of those bastards from Boston. And you what? Waste how much on some fucked up robot?"

A deep feral growl left Thundercracker's vocal processor as he regarded the girls warily now. Her mind finally unfreezing, jumping straight to defensive anger, "He's not a fucking object! He is actually an alien robot from another planet! He's sentient. Alive! From fucking Cyberton!" Callie snarled, in the seeker's defence.

The three girls blinked at their blonde cousin before bursting into peels of heavy laughter. Mia actually doubled over she was laughing so hard, and Liz leaned onto her sister's back for support. Aleyah leaned dangerously on the railing laughing so hard that tears fell from her dark brown eyes.

Snarling at the girls, Thundercracker raised a side of his upper lip baring his denta at Callie's cousins. Said blonde could only dropped her shoulders and stated at her family in an almost dazed shock, "I'm serious you guys! He was shot down and we've towed him all the way from Nebraska!"

Hard laughter was the response Callie received and her nose twitched with irritation, "Oh god Cal!" Aleyah gasped between gales of laughter, "Please, please s-stop! Can't-can't take it. Stomach hurts...so much!"

Liz managed to straighten, laughter still pouring out of her, "Was-wasn't 'Cyberton' something f-from a Black Eye Peas song?"

The laughter started again, and Callie closed her blue eyes, took a deep breath and counted to ten. By the time Callie hit ten, she slowly released the breath she was holding and opened her eyes, and the others had stopped laughed so hard.

They were wiping tears from their eyes and the occasional chuckle still slipped past their tightly sealed lips, "I'm telling you he's an ali-"

Laughter cut her off, causing Callie to throw her arms into the air in frustration. Lucy looked up at the seeker, confusion in her light blue eyes, "What are they laughing at TC?"

"They believe that I am a robot."

"But," she hesitated, "You are a robot."

"Yes, but I can think for myself. Unlike robots on Earth, I am alive. Your cousins believe that I am nothing but a machine."

Her small face scrunched up in confusion, "But you are alive." She protested.

Huffing a sigh, the seeker muttered, "I know. We just have to convince your cousins that I am."

"But your right here and talking! Of course you're alive!" Lucy snapped, her small hands on her hips just like her sister would.

Above them, Callie continued in her attempt to convince her cousins that Thundercracker was alive, only to have them burst into fresh fits of laughter.

"I know Lucy, I know." He grumbled.

"Enough!" Callie finally yelled, silencing her cackling cousins for only a moment before they broke into fits of laughter once again.

Growling, the blonde turned to her guardian, pausing to wonder when she started thinking of Thundercracker as a 'guardian', "Help me out here Thundercracker!" she snapped, ignoring the question.

"O-oh my god!" Aleyah managed between her gasping laughter, "She-she actually talks to-to it l-like it's alive!" this only made the girls laugh that much harder.

Callie took a deep breath and released it slowly, "TC? Any ideas?" she asked quietly.

He looked from Callie to her laughing cousins and back to the blonde girl who was looking up at him with pure hope that he would save her. He vented air hard with a sigh, "I have one." He mumbled and activated the protocols to open his chest plates.

The blonde's dark blue eyes widened in surprise as shock over took her annoyance, "TC, you sure?"

Shifting uncomfortably, he gave her a sharp nod as the gears caught again, before opening all the way. The glass walls of his spark chamber slid open and he bore his spark to the cackling girls.

The moment the silver light bathed them, the laughing died off abruptly and shocked faces stared at the ball of light that was his life force. Their shoulders dropped with their jaws and three collective gasps made the seeker smirk.

"Liz...is that even possible?" Aleyah asked as she stared at the ball of pure energy.

"I...I. No. There's nothing maintaining it...that shouldn't happen. What is that? It's like...energy, electricity. Power?" Liz said in shock, and she reached up as though to try to touch his spark, despite not being close enough to do so, only to have Callie slap her hand away as hard as she could.

The seeker slowly pulled his spark back into the safety of its spark casing and pulled his thick chest plates back over the ball of light. Callie turned back to her stunned cousins with an air of triumph, her back straight, shoulders up, head held high; she gave a victorious smirk that would have made Starscream proud, "It's called a spark. It's his life force because he's an _alien robot_!

"Alien robot?" Liz said shocked, looking up at Thundercracker with a new appreciation, "Really?"

"Yes!" snapped both the Decepticon and the human at the same time.

Mia's green eyes rolled up into her head and she fell back unconscious with a dull thunk onto the floor. Neither Aleyah nor Liz flinched or moved as their sister hit the ground heavily. Callie made a strange high pitched noise as she rushed to her cousin's side to make sure she didn't crack her head wide open.

Thundercracker merely crossed his thick arms and looked smug at the stunned girls, who were ignoring Callie barking orders to get a damp cloth and some ice in favour of staring up at him.

()()()

Skywarp came out of the communications room fighting the silly grin that just begged to be released. He didn't bother glancing back as the doors slid closed behind him, nor did he see that Soundwave was watching him leave with a slight shake of his helm.

The mostly purple seeker fought the urge to skip down the dark halls of the Nemesis, which normally wasn't that odd of a sight, but since Thundercracker had gone missing the younger seeker had been subdued. Unable to hide his grin as well as his older trine mates, Skywarp's massive smile broke through the barriers but he quickly tamped it down into a smirk. No one would notice him if he was smirking, :Starscream, where are you?:

The purple mech could barely contain his excitement as he opened the comm. to his commander and waiting with great impatience for the other seeker to respond.

:On top of the Ariel exit in the south wing.: Came the tri colour jets response, and Skywarp felt more than just a little relieved that his trine leader was starting to slightly come back around. His optics were still dull and blank but at least he was talking again.

:Alright, I'll be there in a breem!: Skywarp told his commander, unable to keep his excitement contained any longer.

Teleporting from the hall with a soft _vop_ , Skywarp reappeared on top of the southern Ariel exit. The four Ariel exits could be lifted and retracted from the Nemesis as the main exit point to and from the submerged ship; any mech could use the exits, but only those with flight capabilities could use it to make them worthwhile. All other Decepticons would have to swim if they came from here, so most used the small ground bridge to get from the Nemesis to the beach.

Shockwave continued to try to increase the ground bridges power, to extend it further then the sandy beach, but thus far he had no such luck.

The four exit points were made from the same shiny black material as the rest of the ship; tall pillars with wide flat hubs at the top with panels of glass so that the leaving Decepticons could see what they were heading into. One side of the pillar had the same re-enforced glass for the same reason. Inside the pillar was a straight shaft right to the top, so any flier wouldn't be hampered in their quick exit. A small stair case ran along the walls and glass, only wide enough for the Decepticons to run up the stairs single file, yet still provided enough room for the seekers to fly without hitting it.

Skywarp blinked in the bright Earth sun, allowing his optics to adjust to the planets bright star as he landed softly in the center of the top hub. Once his optics were registering more than just white light, the younger seeker didn't have to look far to find his trine leader.

Starscream was curled in a tight ball, balancing on the toe plates of his pedes; humans would have called it the 'balls of his feet' if he were a stupid fleshy. He crouched like a bird near the edge of the hub, his face plates tilted down to look at the water lapping gently around the towers base.

Venting a little, Skywarp slowly made his way over to his commander, his smile faltering when he spotted him in such a vulnerable position. Reaching his trine leader, Skywarp dropped heavily beside Starscream, letting his glossy black legs dangle over the hubs edge.

Swinging the black appendages to and fro in a way a sparkling might, the teleporter grinned at Starscream, "So, TC contacted me over the bond." He said lightly, hoping to brighten his trine mate's mood.

Tilting his grey faceplates to regard the teleporter, Starscream sighed, "Good. Did he send his location?"

Nodding his helm vigorously, his grin replaced by a soft smile on his grey faceplates, "He did. What do you think, wait another Earth hour so Megatron doesn't expect anything? I just came off communications duty and I usually hang out in my quarters before going out for a fly."

The dark faced seeker gave his companion a look with dull, blank optics that worried Skywarp more than his submissive position, "Yes. It's a decent plan." The tri colour seeker paused for a moment, casting crimson optics back down to the water, "Well done Skywarp. It is a...decent plan."

Skywarp's wings hiked at the rare complement from his trine leader, giving a small chirr of pride. "Thanks 'Screamer, I'm not as dumb as everyone things I am." The teleporter said, looking at Starscream a little more closely.

The tri colour seeker had his cobalt arms wrapped around his mid section and his wings pulled tight to his back. But worse was Starscream's optics; gone was the cunning intelligence that always lit the seekers optics, replaced with dull, blank pools of red light. All thought and emotions bottled deep in the seeker's processor to protect himself from more hurt.

He had yet to buff out the weld marks from his wings and chest, they stood out bright silver against his crimson armour, "You're not dumb Skywarp." Starscream suddenly said with a deep sigh, "You're just young. Most tend to forget that."

The purple seeker huffed, "Yeah well, I'm just as old as that stupid Autobot, Bumblebee and I doubt that the others tell him he's stupid all the time."

Starscream gave a snort, "There Autobots, of course not. They're too weak to recognise stupidity for what it is and instead of culling it they coddle it."

Skywarp's lips pulled down into a hard frown, "So...you think I'm stupid?"

The other jet sighed and dropped his helm onto his bent knees. Muttering what sounded like 'Primus help me' before raising his helm to stare blankly at his younger trine mate, "You're an idiot." He started, and Skywarp felt his wings fall, "But not stupid. I said the Autobots wouldn't cull their foolish soldiers. Have I ever tried to kill you before?"

"Well...that could be debatable."

Rolling his optics, Starscream sighed dramatically, "Have I ever _really_ tried to kill you?"

"Well...I guess not." Skywarp answered, sounding a little uncertain.

"Do I coddle you when you make a mistake?" The other seeker snapped, sounding a little like his old self, despite his blank optics.

"Well. No. I guess not." The teleporter paused, "You usually yell at me and tell me what I've done wrong."

"And?" Starscream snarked.

"And. You...make me figure out what I would do better next time?" Came the hesitant answer.

"Does this sound like someone who is stupid?" Starscream asked, removing his face from his knees.

Skywarp canted his helm as he considered his answer as Starscream waited patiently; the purple seeker may not be the smartest seeker in the sky, but then compared to Starscream many weren't, but he was no were near as dumb as Megatron liked to believe, "I guess not."

Glossy black wings came high over his dark helm again, and Skywarp gave a happy chirr. The trine leader shook his helm and looked back out to the ocean, cobalt arms wrapped tightly around the weak grey metal that protected his innards.

Almost as though he was reading the other jets mind, Skywarp quietly asked, "Why hasn't Hook finished your repairs?"

Rage and hate flooded the seeker's optics then, his servos tightening around the weak patch, "He wants to keep me vulnerable, keep me weak. Make sure I know that he can do this to me and that I will not be properly repaired until _he_ has said so."

Skywarp cast a worried glance down at the soft grey metal. One good solid hit there, and Starscream's tanks would be damaged again. Making a small noise of unease, the younger jet slid sideways, moving a fraction closer to the other so that their upper arms almost touched.

The mostly red jet would not accept softness, kindness or any type of comfort now, not with Megatron's punishment so fresh in his mind, so this was as best Skywarp could come up with. It must have helped a little as the older jet relaxed a little beside him, letting go a little of the tension built up; but refusing to give up his hatred.

Optics hard on the water below, the SIC of the Decepticon army gave a solemn vow, "He'll pay for this Skywarp. I swear to Primus he will pay for every ounce of pain and humiliation that I have suffered. He will pay for it _tenfold_!"

The teleporter gave his commander a worried look as rage, hate and pain rolled off his frame in thick waves. How must the red jet suffer to project those kinds of feelings, that strongly; to be chocked by your hate and rage.

"He will pay for it." Came the snarling voice again, stronger this time, "He will pay."

()()()

**TBC...**


	10. Peace Through Blood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guys I know it's been a while since I've updated, but I have a very long chapter to make up for that!  
> As always, a massive thank you to Brighter Than The Sun, Sunny. As always she finds my silly mistakes and points them out.  
> As always a pre-view of the next chapter is up on Live Journal.

Chapter ten

Important Information

"..." Speaking

:...: comm. link

' _ **...'**_ bonded speech

'...' thinking

 **Astrosecond** \- 2.5 earth Seconds

 **Klik** \- 150 earth seconds/ 2.5 earth Minutes

 **Orn** \- 150 earth minutes/ 2.5 earth Hours

 **Joor** \- 60 earth hours/2.5 earth Days

 **Metacycle** \- 17.5 earth days/2.5 earth Weeks

 **Vorn** \- 10 earth weeks/2.5 earth months

 **Stellercycle** -30 earth months/2.5 years

 **Breem** -slang for a moment/minute.

 **Night Cycle** : star down to star up

 **Day Cycle** : Star up to star down

 **Warning:** Little bit bloody. Little bit gory. Death of unimportant OC's.

 **Disclaimer** : I own only my OC's, nothing else.

()()()

An empty high rise parking garage served as the rendezvous point for the three missing mech's to meet up with the rest of the Nest team, when the initial search of Los Angeles turned up nothing. The plan was to join up with the others, give what small amount of information they had discovered, which really was only the locations of where Thundercracker was not, and give Prowl enough time to come up with a proper search strategy.

That was the initial plan once Jetfire had landed on the outskirts of the city, and the shuttle was to wait patiently for the others to return, presumably with a snarling unhappy seeker in tow.

Everything should have been going according to Prowl's plan, if only he had considered Sideswipe's mischievous nature when he was board. Really, the tactician should have seen this coming, or at least seen Sideswipe's boredom making him do something stupid.

But he hadn't.

He had thought that the mission would have kept the frontliner's nature to a minimum until they had made it back to the relative safety of the base. It had been a tactical error.

One Sideswipe would no doubt pay for.

Door wings arched high, creating a sharp 'V', Prowl's blank, always controlled face bore into Sunstreaker and Hound. Anyone who knew Prowl would know that his face never revealed anything the police cruiser was feeling. His door wings, however, would present an array of emotion, if one knew how to look.

Hound could not read the signs, taking Prowl's high wings and emotionless face as a sign of anger; dropping his gaze to his green pedes, his hands fidgeting in front of him. Sunstreaker, on the other hand, knew the signs well enough to know that Prowl was scared. Scared for his stupid older brother like a creator would be, scared that something would happen to him while he was alone with some unknown human on a joy ride.

The gold armoured mech could tell this simply looking at his door wings and the slight tremble that caused them to shake ever so slightly. There was also a very slight shift in his weight as Prowl pinned the frontliner and the tracker with his cold look.

Sunstreaker wanted to comfort the tactician, place a hand to his shoulder; a reassuring touch to let him know that Sideswipe would be fine and they could all put the crimson warrior on a massive guilt trip that would last for days. Not to mention Prowl could punish him by putting him on cleaning duty in the medbay, where Ratchet would be glad to put him through his paces, for the next few weeks.

However, Sunstreaker knew they all had their part to play in front of the rest of the army and comfort would only come in the safety of quarters, with Jazz and his moronic twin. Leaning back, putting all his weight onto one leg, Sunstreaker crossed his arms over his chest with a scowl.

"What do you mean, he allowed the human to take him?" The voice was cold and thin with just a hint of the anger and fear that lay below the surface. It was a tone that caused the tracker beside the golden warrior to fidget even more; the white and blue spy that stood behind the SIC, servo's twitched as though he longed to take a green servo and squeeze it to give comfort.

Just like the others, he too had his part to play in the eyes of others.

"I. I don't know Prowl. He was gone when I got there." Hound said quietly, his soft blue optics down cast.

If at all possible, Prowl's door wings came just a fraction higher and beside him Optimus Prime crossed his massive arms over his chest. The Autobot leader sighed and narrowed his optics at the ground, not wanting to project his own anger on any who didn't deserve it.

"Why didn't you stop him!" Lennox snapped from beside the Prime, his small face scrunched in anger, his hands tight on the M-16 he carried. He was just as worried as the others, but hid it well with anger.

Venting an exasperated sigh, Sunstreaker sneered, "And do what Lennox? Transform and hall his sorry aft back! That would have gone over well with Mearing and Morshower. Then we would have to explain to the human that took him that the Lamborghini, that she was _stealing_ , is in fact an alien and that she would have to move on and pick another car." The golden frontliner snarled at the human major, "I maintained cover."

Lennox sighed, rubbing at his eyes, "Alright fine." Another hard sigh, "What do we do?"

"Strip his armour and let him rust out in the city?" Sunstreaker answered lightly with a casual shrug of a shoulder.

Prowl, Optimus and Lennox all gave him hard looks, but Epps gave a hard snort, "I'll second that."

A few of the other Nest members shifted uneasily, but Epps confidently pushed his way through the throng of soliders to the commanders. He cast a glance over his shoulder at the men under his command, "Buck up boys. 'Ya knew that we were chasing seekers, and that problems were going to happen."

The Sergeant picked his way to the commanders, coming to stand beside Optimus, "I'm worried about 'Sides too. But he's a big mech that can take care of himself, this changes nothing. Besides," He grinned now, "When we do find him, we _will_ strip his sorry aft of his armour and leave him to rust out here. In the meantime, what do we do?"

Lennox and Optimus sighed, good ol' Epps. The one to always calm down both Autobots and humans when tension was running too high, getting everyone back to focus on the problem at hand.

Prowl's door wings lowered back a fraction, "Give me a moment, while I figure out the best way to search the city."

Hound edged around the planning commanders and quietly slinked off to stand with Mirage. The tracker and the master spy itched to hold each other, thankful the other was unharmed; instead they clasped forearms, and Mirage cultured voice quietly rang out, "Welcome back Hound."

"Thanks Mirage."

Preceptor sat alone near the rear of the group, quietly stroking the butt of his rifle, looking almost sad as Hound and Mirage reunited, where able to touch each other. His black servo floating up to brush against his tracking monocle with a gentle sigh, the scientist turned sniper lost in some memory of the past.

Jazz slipped away from his special ops mechs in favour of standing next to Prowl. He was close enough to provide comfort as their EM fields meshed together, yet far enough away that no one would comment; only certain humans were privileged to know that the second and third were bonded, and that was the way they wanted to keep it.

Epps, however, gave the saboteur a knowing smirk, having once walked in on the pair when Prowl forgot to lock the door to his office, "Ah'm sure 'Sides will be fine. He should be able ta handle a single, human femme for a little while. Ah'm not too worried. 'Sides, the chances of him actually finding Thundercracker are like what? Less than five percent Ah bet."

"Under one percent actually. The chances that this particular girl, a single girl amongst thousands here in the city, will be able to lead Sideswipe to Thundercracker are so astronomically small, that I almost deem it an impossibility."

Jazz's visor brightened for a moment as a slight smirk crossed his grey faceplates, "The impossible only has ta happen once Prowler."

()()()

Little Lucy was sitting happily on Thundercracker's knee, her small arms crossed over her chest with an air of superiority as her three cousins stared in shock at the Decepticon.

Aleyah was at the top of the stairs, leaning on the railing, with her head cocked to the side, inspecting the alien with great interest, but saying nothing; almost as though she were worried she might insult the seeker again.

Callie was down on the first floor, standing next to Thundercracker's knee; she had pulled the bench over and pushed all Danny's tools to one side so that Mia could sit on it, while her blonde cousin pressed an ice pack to the back of her head.

Despite the knot on her head, Mia was staring with wide-eyed shock at the seeker; her mouth hung open like a fish as she tried, and failed, to form words. Occasionally her slim hand would come up to point at the seeker in her shock, only to float back down to her lap, saying nothing.

Much to both Thundercracker's and Callie's chagrin, Liz was sitting at the top of the stair case, almost optic level with the seeker, shooting question after question at Thundercracker in rapid fire succession. Everything from what his planet was like, to what flying was like, and did he have programming…shot at him from the tiny human.

"If you have a processor, which essentially acts as your brain, do you have," Liz paused in her question, excitement dancing in her brown eyes, as she considered her words, trying not to insult the seeker any more than they already had, "like, an emotional processor? You seem to have emotions, if I were to judge it based on your reactions when we thought you were just a robot."

Thundercracker sighed and gave a flick of his wing. He tolerated the girl's bombarding questions only because he knew it made Callie happy to see him interacting with her family, "We have an emotional cortex, just as I'm sure you have a part of your brain that controls your emotions. We do have the ability to shut it down. However, our spark will find a way to essentially bypass the bypass and force us to feel. That can take years to happen, so when the back lash does happen, it's rather destructive, especially if you've had that block up for so long. It's just easier to learn to control your emotions and expressions."

"Does it happen often? Leaning to control your emotions?" Liz asked, nothing but curiosity in her soft brown eyes.

The seeker snorted, "No. Most mech's can be read like an open book. It's why so many wear visors and faceplates at all times, they can't form what you would call a 'poker face'." His own face and voice serious.

Liz hummed another question already at her lips when Aleyah threw her own at the Decepticon, "I've got a question. Why are you here? On Earth? It's not like anything exciting ever happens here."

The greying seeker frowned at her, shifting a little in a sudden nervousness. He shouldn't be nervous or worried; he technically wasn't lying to them, merely keeping them in the dark about certain facts...well major facts, but facts none the less.

Luckily for Thundercracker, Callie had sensed his unease, taking it as something too painful to talk about rather than the guilt he actually felt for lying, "He's from a fraction called the Decepticons." she told her cousins, Mia's wide eyed stare slowly becoming normal once again.

"We're lead by a mech called Megatron." the seeker mumbled, optic down cast, purposely not elaborating.

"They've been at war with the Autobots for centuries." Callie added as she pulled the ice pack from her cousin's head to inspect the bump, "You're going to have a lovely goose egg Mia." she added with a shrug.

"What do you mean war?" The green eyed girl asked, her worried gaze going from her blonde cousin to the Decepticon.

Callie shrugged as she reapplied the pack, "The Deception's are freedom fighters," she explained, not noticing the seeker's sudden twitch, "The Autobot counsel wanted to keep all the lower cast Cybertronions where they were, despite the horrible conditions. So the Decepticons rose up against them, fighting for a better future. The Autobot's leader, Sentinel Prime was unhappy with these uprisings, I guess. So he obliterated Thundercracker's home city of Vos." She paused in her story before adding, "They destroyed the nurseries first."

Liz frowned, "Nurseries?"

Callie nodded, "It's where they housed baby seekers, seekerlings. Sentinel had them all destroyed, which threw the planet into a war that has lasted, well, like, forever. The Deception's were forced off world, and have basically been on the run ever since. The Autobots chased them here, and Earth has become almost like a final stand...I guess."

Another bolt of guild speared Thundercracker's spark, which he desperately tried to drown out; he refused to feel bad for lying to Callie. He refused!

He had no choice at the time and he was so close to getting back to the Nemesis to screw it all up now. He would leave with Callie and her family thinking he was a hero, and he would continue to watch over her. Make sure these people from Boston left her well enough alone.

It was the harsh reality, he had to deal with whether or not he liked it. He'd come to the bitter conclusion that he couldn't take them to the Nemesis and he couldn't stay. This wasn't a fairy tale, Decepticon's didn't get happily ever after, and that was just the way it was.

He still had no idea what he was going to do if Megatron ever managed to surpass Optimus Prime and take over this planet. He'd cross that bridge when they got to it.

Shoving down hard on his guilt, Thundercracker gave the girls a firm nod, agreeing with Callie.

"Why do the Autobots want to keep the other classes down?" Liz asked gently, her small head tilting to the side.

Shrugging a blue shoulder guard, Thundercracker replied, "They liked things the way they were. For them, everything was fine. Better than perfect really, while so many others had nothing, were left with nothing, and no one wanted to help them. It was easier to sweep them under the rug like dirt then deal with the issue. If you ever speak with a mech from the streets, they'd tell you all about it."

"Did you grow up on the streets?" Callie asked, her soft blue eyes looking up at him.

"No," came the hesitant reply, "But I know a few mechs that had. The council never cared about them. For most, the first time someone gave a damn about them, their wellbeing, was when they joined the Decepticons. The Autobot Council would have let each and every one of them deactivate on the street rather than help them."

Aleyah snorted, leaning heavily on the railing, "Sounds like our government."

Thundercracker could hear the bitterness and anger in her voice. He knew that she was thinking of the police that left them to their fate after Callie had given them the information they needed for the car thief ring, "Yes. Many of your own leaders share many similarities with the Autobot Council. You, however, were lucky to have a family to watch out for you, to take care of you."

Aleyah managed a smirk at him, "I suppose. But Danny's still a pain in the ass."

Callie snorted at her cousin, hearing the playful tone, "Where is Danny? I figured she'd be here by now."

The others exchanged looks and a shrug, "Dunno, she left a while ago. Didn't say where she was going, just that she was going out." Mia explained, seemingly coming out of her shell, no longer staring up at the seeker in shock.

Callie seemed to freeze, her dark blue eyes narrowing, becoming harder, "She didn't say where she was going?"

The seeker frowned, his metal brow furrowing, "Does that matter?"

Liz scrunched up her small face as she looked up at the seeker, looking a little worried, "Well. Generally it's when Danny doesn't tell us where she's going that she does her...more exuberant activities."

Frowning at her, Thundercracker didn't quite understand why she danced around the issue until Callie piped up, her voice hard and angry, "Don't bother Liz. He knows that Danny steals cars. No doubt the little idiot is off doing just that!"

Even Thundercracker winced at Callie's hard tone, not used to hearing such an angry, scathing tone from the usually gentle human. Mia squirmed beneath her cousin's hand, "I'm sure Danny's just looking for the men from Boston. She said they were closer to the garage yesterday and she's probably just worried they'll find it. She's probably just leading them back into the city so they don't find us."

The more Mia spoke the stronger her voice got, the more confident she became in her opinion. Danny wouldn't be so foolish, so brash to steal a car after she and Callie had several fights on the issue and deciding that they would go straight after Boston.

Thundercracker gave Mia the same look as Callie did; a disbelieving look and a raised brow, "You don't actually believe that, do you?" he asked, not bothering to hide his own disbelieve at Mia's naivety.

The green eyed girl gave the seeker a weak smile, causing him to roll is optic with a disgruntled sigh, "Unbelievable." he grumbled, crossing his arms over his blue chest plates, "No survival sense in you."

The sudden sound of a high powered engine revved on the other side of the bay door, causing the girls to jump at the sudden noise, and Thundercracker's wing to twitch.

Callie's dark blue eyes narrowed at the bay doors, "Aleyah, what is that?"

"Sounds like an engine of a sports car." Thundercracker said softly, his tanks twisting in worry. There was no way the Autobots could have found him here, it was impossible. It couldn't be possible, the odds were against them, not him.

"Aleyah, check the window. What's out there?" Callie asked, her voice low and angry.

The black haired girl pushed herself off the railing, walking to the window at the end of the little corridor. Pressing her small hands against the brick work, she peered outside and laughed a little nervously, "Holy shit!" another nervous laugh, "You're going to be so mad Callie!"

Sighing heavily, Callie leaned her hip against work bench, pressing her hand to her eyes, "What did she take?"

Another laugh came from Aleyah before she responded, "A red lambo."

Callie groaned as an impatient honk came from the other side of the bay door; the blonde rubbed at her eyes and she muttered darkly under her breath. Behind her the seeker had tensed, his frame going ram rod stiff.

No. nononononono! There was no way. There was no way that pit spawned, jet judoing, crimson bastard of a Lamborghini could be on the other side of that bay door, there was no way that he could have found him.

'But Danny's a car thief.' The seeker thought to himself as panic made his tanks drop and twist, and Callie practically threw herself away from the bench and stomped angrily to the bay door, 'She couldn't have stolen the slagger! There's no way he would have allowed that! There's no way! It can't be poss-'

Callie angrily shoved the tin door up and scowled at the red lambo with all her might, hoping that it would combust with her anger; the moment Thundercracker spotted the crimson sports car, most coherent thought stopped and he took a sharp intake of air in his panic. The only words that made any logical sense in his helm were 'No slagging way...'

Liz, looking worried for completely other reasons, turned her attention back to the seeker, "You okay Thundercracker?"

As Danny drove the Lamborghini into the garage bay, the seeker gave the smaller blonde a tight nod, "Fine." he said in a tense, controlled voice as his black servos began to shake.

Liz gave him an odd look then glanced at her cousin and sister, feeling a fight brewing between the two, "Don't worry. Once Callie calms down everything will be okay."

"Mhmm." the blue seeker muttered, not really paying attention to the human in favour of staring nervously at the lambo, who no doubt already sensed him sitting there. Could sense how weak his body had become since being shot down.

He knew it was Sideswipe, there were too many dings for a car that nice and the plating shone in a way that Earth metals never could. It was just that...it seemed so impossible for the Autobot to find him, especially when he was so close to getting back to the Nemesis.

Callie pulled down on the chain to close the bay door and locked it behind Sideswipe, unknowingly locking the injured Decepticon and volatile Autobot inside with the humans; Thundercracker couldn't stop the flinch when he heard his human lock the door, sliding the bolt into place.

Fear ate at his tanks as he stared at Sideswipe; if the frontliner started a fight now, he would surely loose and most likely be deactivated because of his injuries. More importantly, however, if the Autobot attacked him in such a confined space, the girls and their softy, squishy bodies would more than likely be killed in the cross fire. That was unacceptable to Thundercracker; he had promised to keep Callie and Lucy safe and he refused to fail again. Refused to fail like he had failed in Vos.

The seeker just thanked Primus that it wasn't Sunstreaker that had been stolen.

As Danny cut Sideswipe's engine she easily climbed from the lambo's frame, grabbing her bag, coat and tool as she did. Pressing the scissor door closed behind her, her gaze went right to the damaged seeker; her brows furrowed in confusion and her lips pulled down into a small frown.

"Sooo, what's with the broken robot in the garage?" Danny asked slowly as she looked Thundercracker up and down, and the seeker couldn't help but wonder what he looked like through her eyes; missing a wing, armour cracked, dirty and dying, an optic still not working, a massive hole in his side, and energon slowly weeping from his wounds.

Again, subconscious with his appearance, the seeker moved his servo to cover the gaping wound in his side and shifted his attention back to the real threat in the room. He wondered how long it would be before Sideswipe blew his cover.

"What's with the fucking Lamborghini! Don't think ya bought it Danny, did you!" Callie snapped, her small hand waving wildly behind her to point at the seemingly innocent Lamborghini.

Still not taking her eyes from the damaged seeker, Danny walked to where Callie had moved the bench, dropping her things unceremoniously beside Mia' thigh. The older cousin walked slowly back to where Sideswipe sat, never taking her brown eyes from Thundercracker; the car thief made her way back to the lambo and perched herself on the hood of the car.

"I think I asked first." Danny said gently, but firmly, "What the fuck is with the giant robot?" she crossed her arms over her chest as she continued to stare at the seeker.

Callie growled lowly, pressing her hands to her hips and pulled out her 'mom voice'. "This is Thundercracker. He's an alien robot from another planet. What the hell's with the car?"

Danny finally tore her eyes away from the seeker and gave her cousin a wide eyed look, "An alien?"

"Yes. An alien."

Danny blinked slowly at her cousin, her face blank, "Seriously? That's the best you can come up with? An alien robot? Not a cyborg from the future? Not an ancient guardian that's lay dormant for centuries? An alien robot is what you're going with?" the sarcasm dripped from her voice like thick mud.

Callie sighed, "Not again." her hand flying up to her face in what humans called a 'face palm'.

"No, Danny, it's true! He's an alien, from Cyberton. He has a spark and everything!" Liz said excitedly from the top of the stairs.

Danny raised a shaped eyebrow at her sister, "Isn't Cyberton a word from a Black Eye Peas song? Really, you guys couldn't have come up with something better than that?"

A soft giggle left Liz as a shy smile spread across her small face, "That's what I said too. But it's true Danny! Thundercracker is an alien!"

Danny's brown eyes blinked up at her smallest sister, giving her a disbelieving look, "Kay...yeah. Guys this shit isn't funny. How much did you pay for it?"

Aleyah laughed suddenly from her position by the railing, "HA! That's what I said Danny would ask!"

Danny's un-amused gaze moved from Liz to Aleyah, shaking her head, her burgundy pony tail swinging behind her head, "This isn't funny Aleyah," Danny's firm voice wiped the smirk from her sisters face. The black haired girl knew when her older sister was dropping into her own street savvy mind set when they were dealing with bad situations.

"We have people from Boston who are trying to kill us," Thundercracker let out a snarl at her words before he could stop himself, to which Danny ignored, "have any of you remembered that? They will not hesitate. You all know that, we have dealt with people like this before, and your fucking joking around about aliens?"

With the exception of Callie, the other girls sunk into themselves at their sister's angry words; their shoulders hunched and their heads lowered as if in shame. Even Lucy seemed to scoot back further along Thundercracker's leg as though to hide from her irate cousin.

Callie, however, stood her ground, "He's a real alien Danny. Whether or not you believe us, is not our problem. _My_ concern is where did you get the lambo?"

Thundercracker winced at the girl's angry tone, momentarily forgetting about the impulsive frontliner in favour of watching the little melodrama playing out below him.

"Where the hell do you think I got it? Went to a dealership, found one that was a little fucked up and bought it? Nooooo! I stole it." Danny gave a hard little snort, "Where did I get it. Unbelievable."

Callie finally reached the end of her tether, her vast amount of patience snapping all at once; no one could anger the blonde quite as much as Danny, but the burgundy haired girl had a knack for it.

Snarling, the blonde slammed her small fists onto Sideswipe's already dented hood; she opened her mouth as though to snap back at Danny, said car thief looking rather unruffled by her cousin's sudden outburst, when Sideswipe reached the end of his own rope.

Before Callie could rip into her cousin, the Lamborghini's V-twelve engine suddenly roared to life, revving high and angry, causing the blonde to gasp and remove her hands from his hood. Danny's confused eyes looked down at the hood, although she looked more annoyed than confused and didn't bother to move.

Thundercracker snarled, gently removing Lucy from his knee and placing her behind his metal body to keep her safe should Sideswipe attack; he came to his knees, pressing the flat bottom of his pede against the wall behind him so that he wouldn't fall back onto the small girl.

Sinking back so that his aft sat against the back's of his heals, the seeker gently snarled, "Callie come here, quickly. Mia you too." His voice was gruff and tight as he extended a servo to the girls; Liz and Aleyah were at the top of the stairs and would be safe there.

Mia jumped from the work bench the same time Callie began to back away from the Lamborghini, whose engine rumbled unhappily; Danny still didn't move, her lips pulled down into an annoyed frown, "Piece of shit." She grumbled.

Callie, however, started to look fearful at the vehicle, as she backed away towards the seeker, her guardian. She and Mia backed all the way to stand behind the blue jet with Lucy; Mia grabbed at the smaller girl, pulling her to her lean body.

"What-what is it TC?" Callie asked, fighting the tremble in her voice.

"An Autobot." He snarled, still not raising his weapon as long as Callie's cousin stood between he and the Autobot. 'Damndamndamndamn!' the seeker thought to himself, worry knotting his tanks. He hid it well though, snarling at the crimson car.

Panic flooded Callie's dark blue eyes; looking away from her seeker, her annoyance forgotten in exchange for dread, "Danny get away from that car! It's dangerous."

Danny rolled her brown eyes, ignoring her cousins and sisters panic, "Alright guys, this isn't funny. Turn that," she jabbed an angry finger at Thundercracker "thing off. The car probably just has bad wiring. I did have to hot wire it to get it started, it's just a glitch somewhere, that's all."

Liz, who had retreated with Aleyah to the mouth of her door, gave Danny a terrified look, "Danny we are being serious! Thundercracker is an alien and so is that Lamborghini. It's evil, get away from it!"

The car thief snorted, ignoring the angry revving beneath her, "What, is it going to go all 'Christine' on me? Run me over?" Danny rolled her brown eyes, the sarcasm still dripping from her voice.

"Danielle May McCormick! Get your sorry, skinny ass over here before you get killed!"

"Oooo, bringing out the full name now Cal? Don'cha think your taking this prank a little far? I mean, really if this was a real alien, could I do this?" The brown eyed girl then balled her small hand into a fist and raised it.

"Danny, wait!" Callie cried out, but to no avail; Danny's small hand came down as hard as it could onto the hood of the crimson lambo.

Everyone present, Thundercracker included, gasped in unison as her small hand left an equally small dent in the already dented hood. Even Sideswipe stalled for a moment as he comprehended what just happened, his engine cutting out for just a moment.

Rage from the frontliner rolled off his crimson frame in thick waves as he snarled, "That's it!"

The angry voice from beneath Danny caused her brown eyes to widen in shock as the car began to vibrate; the small human practically leapt from the hood of the Lamborghini as Sideswipe transformed. The frontliner came up onto his knees, having to duck because of the size of the building, guns already drawn, powered and ready to fire.

Reacting, purely on instinct, Thundercracker raised his arms, his shoulder mounted weapons humming with power, his dark servos balled into firsts. 'Two shots,' the seeker mused darkly to himself, 'two shots and I won't have the energy to fight.'

The Autobot and Decepticon snarled and glared at each other, neither moving so much as a piston in fear of starting a fire fight that would kill the humans, something both Cybertronions could agree they did not want to happen; neither willing to admit it.

Not much shocked Danny anymore, she had seen too much. Been through too much to be shocked easily, but the car thief stood between the two aliens, guns hot and ready to be fired, in frozen shock. Her shoulders dropped low, her eyes wide, mouth dropped open as she stared at the crimson frontliner in what could only be described as dumb founded shock.

"The fuck?" she managed to get out, her brown eyes not leaving the angry faceplates of Sideswipe.

From behind her, Callie snapped at her cousin, "I told you they were aliens! Now get over here!"

Danny didn't move, instead continued to stare in shock at Sideswipe, "That's a fucking robot!" the girl gasped, her hand waving wildly at the Lamborghini.

"Yes Danny, I can see that. Now get over here!" Callie said, trying to calm down.

Danny didn't move, still too stunned for her brain to function properly and tell her to get down, "I drove that _thing_ here!"

"Him! You drove _him_ here, now get out of the way." Callie said easily, her own inner calm coming out.

Instead, Danny made a strangled little noise, "What the hell..."

Ignoring the small human in favour of glaring at each other, Sideswipe and Thundercracker never took their optics from the other, "Hand over the humans Thundercracker. No need for them to get hurt." the crimson frontliner said calmly, his anger just below the surface.

"Rot in the Pit Autobot. There's no way I'm handing Callie and Lucy over to your clumsy servos." Thundercracker replied easily, as his processor began to spin again. 'Not now.' he thought desperately to himself as he forced himself to focus on the frontliner.

A snarling growl left the frontliners throat, his lip plates rising to bare his denta at the seeker, "You already killed three humans, release the girls or so help me..."

The threat hung stale between them; Thundercracker knew that he would never win a fight in his condition, they both knew it, but Sideswipe would never endanger the lives of innocents.

Tension mounted between them, both Cybertronion's frames were still and tense, ready to attack should the other make a wrong move. Oddly quiet, gentle snarls were exchanged between the two, neither willing to back down and neither willing to attack fist, risking the humans; Danny, suspended between them, still in a deep state of shock, unable to move.

Thundercracker needed to protect the girls, even from the Autobots; so determined to protect Callie and Lucy, thus protecting their cousins, the seeker didn't even realize that he didn't think about himself. He didn't matter, protecting the girls, who had spent the past few days protecting him, were what mattered.

To return the favour they had so graciously given him.

"Give me the girls, no one has to get hurt." Sideswipe hissed, his servos never wavering.

"Go frag yourself Autobot." Thundercracker responded calmly, despite the warning messages that continued to pop up in his HUD. Eons of practice kept the seeker's face pulled in an ugly snarl, refusing to show the enemy any sign of weakness.

Callie, meanwhile, stood in shock and worry by the seekers leg; she worried for her cousin, who still hadn't moved and she worried for Thundercracker, who was still so hurt. She had to do something, draw the Autobot's attention away for a moment, get Danny away from him.

Talking a deep, calming breath, Callie looked over her shoulder at Mia and Lucy, "Keep Lucy here, stay hidden."

Mia shot a scared look to her older cousin, her face pinched because of the emotion, "Why hasn't Danny _moved_?"

It dawned on Callie that Mia was so frightened because Danny had literally shut down, frozen in place; not even in their darkest hour had her vibrant cousin done that. Even hurting, bleeding out on the floor in the one place that should have been safe, Danny hadn't frozen like this. She had done what she always did, react.

"There's a pair of giant alien robots about to shoot this place up. We just have to give her a little jump start is all. Now stay here." The blonde said soothingly; she slipped around the stair case with neither Cybertronion noticing, slowly making her way to the work bench.

A sharp snarl from Sideswipe drew the blonde's attention back to the potentially volatile situation, "Enough Thundercracker!" the frontliner sneered, "Release the humans. Now or so help me..."

The blue seeker, with his damaged armour, merely snarled at the Autobot, refusing to answer the threat. Callie scrunched her face up in confusion; it almost sounded like the red mech was worried about them. But why? He wanted to obliterate her world.

Shoving those thoughts and her confusion away, she slowly picked up a wrench from Danny's bench, took careful aim and threw it with all her might at the obsidian helm that adorned the crimson mech's cranium.

The wrench spun in the air in a way that would have made Ratchet proud, and clanged sharply against the frontliner's helm, before clattering to the floor. Ever so slowly, both the Decepticon and the Autobot turned their faces away from each other to look at the small, stupid, human. Neither could hide their shock at the small creature's audacity.

Danny didn't even twitch.

Callie tensed for a moment, her small body going ram-rod stiff and ready to move should the Lamborghini decide to shoot her. She half expected him to turn his weapons on her after throwing the wrench at him, but that was what she wanted. If the Autobot turned his weapons on her, it would give Thundercracker an opening to take the crimson mech down.

Much to her surprise however, the Autobot just stared at her in shock, his light grey jaw dropped in disbelief. Risking a glance over her shoulder Callie looked at Thundercracker; the seeker mirrored the crimson mech's look of disbelief.

Thundercracker knew that Callie had a tendency to do dumb things, but even this was more than just slightly suicidal. It was _Sideswipe_ for Primus-sake! He could easily kill her, as easily as Thundercracker could. Only thing was, the Autobot wouldn't. His crazed brother might have, Sunstreaker had little love for humanity, but Sideswipe wouldn't harm something so weak.

Callie, however, didn't know this. Had no idea that out of either of the twins, Sideswipe was the calmer of the two, saner of the two and less likely to attack a human should he be attacked in such a foolish manner.

It dawned on Thundercracker than that Callie was trying to help him, trying to save him from the Autobot. He felt a flair of annoyance for a moment, after all he was supposed to be protecting her and not the other way around, but he quickly squashed that thought code.

Callie was trying to _help_ him defeat the frontliner. Drawing his attention in an attempt to act as a distraction so that Thundercracker could get a clean hit in. It was a rather good idea with only one major fault; if Thundercracker let a shot off, Sideswipe would go down shooting in order to protect himself and thus the potential for the girls to be injured would increase dramatically.

Then he would also call to his brother for help, and there was no way in the Pit that Thundercracker had the strength to deal with the 'dandelion of death' as Skywarp liked to call him. Sideswipe, at the very least, could be kept calm enough, sane enough to speak with. Perhaps even bargain with?

Callie, meanwhile, began to feel a little bolder now that she hadn't been shot down by the Autobot. The blonde straightened to her full height; her shoulders came back and her small head came high.

"Get out of my shop." Callie said firmly, calmly, to Sideswipe.

The crimson Autobot blinked at her, not sure if he really believed what she had just said. "What?" he managed dumbly as he glanced between Thundercracker and the small blonde. His blasters never left the seeker's damaged chest plates.

"I said, get out of my shop." she said again, her voice a little more firm.

"Callie, get back!" Thundercracker snarled, his body tensing out of pure instinct. He couldn't help it; he had seen Sideswipe kill mechs that were easily twice the frontliner's size. Despite knowing that the Autobot would not intentionally harm Callie, Thundercracker refused to allow himself to relax even marginally so long as the crimson mech was even near his humans.

Guns still pointing at Thundercracker, but his shoulders beginning to loosen in his shock, Sideswipe just stared at her, "W-what?"

Thundercracker was horrified when he saw Callie pick up another wrench and throw it at the other mech's head with all her human strength; Sideswipe was prepared for the second 'attack'. He tipped his helm to the side allowing the tool to sail safely over his shoulder, never taking his weapons from Thundercracker's frame, his blasters bobing with his frame as he moved.

"Are you crazy! What are you doing? I'm trying to save you!" Sideswipe snarled at her confusion coloring his tone.

Maybe it was the clang of the wrench hitting the tin door behind Sideswipe or the anger in his voice, but whatever it was, it caused Danny to twitch. Her brain working hard to catch up with the crazy events going on around her.

Thundercracker started at his small human in shock, and was again thankful that it had been Sideswipe that had been stolen. Sunstreaker would no doubt have slagged Callie the moment she threw that fist wrench in a fit of rage and it would have forced Thundercracker to react to protect her.

But really, he shouldn't have been that surprised. Callie had more or less done the same to him the first time they had met. The seeker had only hoped that the blonde would have the sense to stay quiet and hidden with the Autobot so close. How wrong the blue mech was.

"Do I look like I need to be saved!" She snapped back at the crimson mech, reaching for another tool.

Danny slowly turned to face her cousin, her expression softening into mild surprise, "That's...that's an alien."

Everyone ignored the burgundy haired girl as she stated the obvious; instead Sideswipe snarled at the human again, "He killed three people!"

"Fuck you Sideswipe." Thundercracker snarled, not bothering to elaborate. He had no reason to justify his kill to the Autobot.

At the seeker's snarling words, Callie angrily grabbed an odd looking tool; it was silver dome shaped thing with a flat bottom and three long hooks adorned the edges of it.

Shifting his attention back to the seeker, Sideswipe bit back sarcastically, "Oooo using human curses now are we Thundercracker? Spend that much time _slumming_ it?"

Callie snarled in indignation, raising her hand that clutched the odd tool, ready to throw it at the cocky frontliner.

Danny's brain, however, decided that that moment was a perfect time to unfreeze; her muscular body jerked back into reality, her blank eyes quickly filled with deadly awareness as she stared at her cousin. Throwing her hands up in front of her like a shield, the human snapped an almost panicked "NO!"

Callie froze at her cousin's words, her hand raised above her head with the tool in hand; turning her attention back to her worried looking cousin, whose brown eyes were focused on the tool in her hands, "What?"

"Don't throw that!"

Callie paused, giving her cousin a dumb founded look, "Why not?"

"That's a puller!"

"A what?" Callie asked, her arm lowering, both Cybertronions staring at the pair in surprise, their arms lowering at the strangeness of the situation and Sideswipe knew that no one would believe him when he got back to base.

"A puller," Danny repeated, slowly approaching her cousin like she would a wild animal, "The hooks attach to a clutch of a vehicle and it _pulls_ it apart without damaging the clutch. It's a rather specialised tool and that makes it expensive. So...let's put it down. Nice and slow." The human came to stand beside her cousin, keeping her voice soft. Reaching out, Danny carefully took the tool from her cousin, "Let's just give it to me. There we go."

Removing the tool from her cousin's hand and pulling the puller close to her chest, Danny heaved a relieved sigh. The burgundy haired girl turned and placed the puller back onto the work bench, decided that she didn't like just where it sat, and carefully nudged the tool with her fingers so that it sat in the middle of the work bench.

"That's better. Here, use this." Danny said as she reached for, ironically, another wrench, "wrenches are a dime a dozen and I can get more very cheaply. Throw that. Not the puller."

Callie stared at her cousin for a moment before turning and winging another wrench at Sideswipe, which again missed. Danny raised an eyebrow at her cousin, her mouth pouting in disappointment, "You throw like a girl."

With that, Danny picked up another wrench. Sideswipe snarled at the humans, "Stop throwing wrenches at me!"

The car thief blinked up at the mech and dropped the tool back onto the bench. Calmly, she picked up a screwdriver.

Both the ariel and ground mech sputtered at Danny's foolishness, neither really expecting her to throw the new tool. Merely picked it up as a saucy way of rebelling. Both were proven wrong when the screwdriver was suddenly thrown through the air, spinning end over end, hitting the frontliner square between the optics with the handle end of the tool.

"Nice toss." Callie commented, hands on her hips, smirking at the Autobot.

Danny shrugged, "Eh, I hit him with the wrong end and I was aiming for his eye. Could have been better."

Callie shrugged, causing Sideswipe to snarl again, "Stop throwing tools! I'm here to help you!"

"Get over here Callie." Thundercracker snarled, pointing angrily at the ground by his knee.

It seemed, however, that once Callie and Danny were reunited, her confidence grew in leaps and bounds and she ignored her guardian in favour of mocking at the Autobot.

It was Danny, who said in a too calm voice, "If your here to help, why are you pointing a gun at us?"

"I'm pointing a gun at him!"

"That's our direction. If you were to fire, you'd kill us too, twit." The car thief canted her head to the side, her pony tail falling to one side, "You're not so good at this game are you?"

Callie snorted at Sideswipe's dumb founded look, "Where in the Pit did you _find_ these humans!" the frontliner snarled, addressing the seeker.

Calmly, Thundercracker shrugged, "Nebraska."

"Nebraska? What...but you killed those people out on I-15. Vaporized their truck, wiped them off the face of the Earth. Why are they not afraid of you?" Sideswipe asked suspiciously, missing a key fact.

Callie was more than happy to fill in the blanks, with a snort the blonde said, "Yeah, vaporized them after they tried to rape me! If you're so concerned about that, where were you then? "

Danny froze at her cousin's words, turning to face her, "Wait, what!"

Callie ignored her cousin, continuing to glare at Sideswipe, "Hmmm, Mr-Holier-Than-Thou, _he_ saved me. Killed those _people_ to do it and your know what? The world is a better place for it. So tell me, why the hell would I be afraid of Thundercracker?"

The seeker, having lowered his own weapons, felt a burst of pride from his spark over the fact that Callie still thought him a hero. That tiny voice of doubt in his helm cruelly asked how long it would last now that the Autobot was there. He would surely tell his dirty little secret.

Sideswipe, despite having a seeker within reach, stared dumb founded at the human, his weapons hanging loose by his sides, yet still charged and ready to be used should the need arise, "But. He's a Decepticon." the disbelief in his voice was palatable.

"And you're a dirty Autobot! Now go away." Callie said calmly to the frontliner while he just stared at her in disbelief.

Thundercracker's processor spun again, his equilibrium chips unable to tell which way was up or down. His tanks heaved and constricted painfully in their emptiness, but he managed to stay up right, his scowl in place.

"Not too bright this one." Danny said, straightening her head. She turned her attention back to Callie, calming once she knew that the people who had tried to hurt her cousin were dead, "So, I'm starting to believe in the whole alien thing." Callie snorted at her cousins comment, "But what's with the whole Autobot, Decepticon thing? I feel as though I'm missing a key piece of information here."

Callie snarled again, her dark blue eyes narrowing angrily at the crimson Autobot. Thundercracker felt tendrils of dread wrap around his spark suddenly, despite his rolling tanks and couldn't help but find the irony that it had been Danny that would be his undoing.

"The Decepticons are freedom fighters. See, the Autobots," Callie snarled with a tip of her blonde head towards Sideswipe, "were run by a council. This council wanted to keep all the poorer mech's down and out. Wouldn't allow them to move up in the world. Kept them poor, kept them under them."

Dark blue eyes shifted to angry brown, "This council ran Cyberton, keeping everything for themselves, kept the best for themselves, while their people starved."

Even Sideswipe flinched at her harsh, angered words, despite how tame they really were. It had been so much worse then she could ever describe; Sideswipe himself had grown up in the Gladiator Pits of Iacon, an _Autobot_ run city.

They had grown up in the pits, their creators too poor to care for them, had sold them to one of the pit bosses. It was during their time in the pits that both he and Sunny had been rented out by Shockwave, a onetime _Autobot_ supporter, so that the not quite scientist could experiment on them and their bond. The experiments had been hurtful, agonizing really, and had in the end turned up very little for the scientist to use.

Between Shockwave's experiments, the nearly nightly fights and being forced to attend to the pit bosses _special_ needs, the twins had also suffered greatly under Autobot rule. Nearly just as badly as any Decepticon and if it hadn't been for Optimus, the twins most likely would have ended up wearing the Decepticon insignia.

Sideswipe suddenly shoved those thoughts away, no use dredging up the past. Not when a deadly Decepticon was trapped with him in a confined space with humans that he was desperate to save. He hated watching innocent creatures suffer. He tried to be the hero he nearly didn't have.

Everything she said was true about the Autobots though, it was something that they were not proud of. It was something that every mech who wore the red insignia vowed to never let happen again, to promise they would do better when the war ended. It was an ideal that Sideswipe clung to despite his outward mischief.

"So what happened?" Danny snarled, her own anger at other's pain rolling off her in waves; she could relate to these other beings.

"The Deception's revolted. Lead by a Decepticon named," Callie paused to think for a moment, only hearing about Megatron for the first time, "Megatron. He lead the Deception's into a revolution. Tried to make a better future for the lower classes."

Sideswipe shuttered at Callie's tone, almost like hero worship. Of course, a lot of Cybertronions had felt that way at first, before Megatron had lost his way, lost his mind, plunging their people into a never ending war.

"So you know what the leader of the Autobots did?" Callie asked gently, her anger bubbling to the surface even hotter, mainly because it had caused Thundercracker pain.

Whereas Callie burned hot when she was that angry, Danny went cold; it made her more efficient when doing things that normal people would cringe at, "What?"

" _Sentinel Prime_ " Callie sneered the name, "ordered the city of Vos, Thundercracker's home, to be burned to the ground. And you know what they hit first?"

Danny crossed her arms and gave her cousin a cold look, allowing her to continue, "They hit the nurseries first." It was Thundercracker's turn to flinch at Callie's words, with the flash back to when they found Skywarp still fresh in the Deception's processor, "thousands of infant and young seekerlings burned, wiped out of existence by douche bag's like him." Her blonde head tipped to Sideswipe, making the frontliner actually flitch away from her accusing words.

"Then, as if _that_ weren't enough, the Autobots drove the Deception's from their home on Cyberton," At those words, Sideswipe froze, his face contorting in confusion at the wrong information she had been told. Another flash of guilt and dread squeezed the seeker's spark, "and chased them all the way here. Earth has more or less become a final stand for them. Their last chance for freedom."

As Callie finished her -partially incorrect- tale both humans turned to glare angrily at the Autobot. Gone was the playful sass that both had adorned before, replaced with hard anger and seemingly righteous hate towards the frontliner.

Sideswipe blinked at them with blue optics, first focusing on Callie, then Danny and back to Callie again. He blinked again before bursting into fits of laughter at their too serious faces, which only made them scowl more up at him.

He couldn't help it though; the girl with curly hair had come around with the little one and standing on the stair case, both watching him with wide eyes. The small blonde one and the dark haired one both stared wide eyed at him from the top of the stair case, while the ones called Danny and Callie scowled up at him darkly. As though either of them could actually hurt him.

The best, however, was Thundercracker's face; the light blue seeker was glaring energon daggers at the frontliner. His mouth was cut in an ugly frown on his faceplates, nasal structure scrunched up in his anger, and his single, crimson optic was narrowed in hard on Sideswipe. The frontliner, however, could easily see the underlining, silent prayer that he would keep quiet about what really happened on Cyberton near the end. Who had really chased who off world.

That was what caused Sideswipe to burst into fits of hard laughter that he had no way of controlling. Every time the frontliner came even close to calming down, one glance at any one else trapped within the confines of the garage would set him off again and fresh laughter would erupt from the Autobot.

"I really don't see what's so slagging funny Autobot?" Thundercracker muttered, his tone _almost_ a sulk.

"You!" Sideswipe managed, "Don't see why this is slagging funny? Really!"

More bubbles of laughter burst from the frontliner, the crimson mech leaning back on the tin door behind him, making the metal bow.

"Does your species not possess the ability to leave things unbroken!" Callie hissed as Danny winced a little at the popping of metal. Her angered tone just made Sideswipe laugh harder.

Callie shared a look with Danny, and the blonde didn't like the uncertainty in her cousin's eyes. Brown eyes shifted back to the big Autobot, "Why is this so funny to you? I hardly find bombing a city and killing...seekerlings?" a subtle shift of her eyes and a small nod of confirmation form Callie had Danny continuing, "so funny."

Reaching up with one servo, the one that didn't hold his weapon, to wipe away the tears of dark mirth, Sideswipe levelled at look at the humans, "Because I can't believe that you actually accept that slag."

Danny's brow furrowed in confusion, "Slag?"

"Crap. Shit. Nonsense." Sideswipe translated, sending a dark look to the seeker, "Because everything after the fall of Vos is a load of slag."

Callie narrowed dark blue eyes on the Autobot, "You're lying."

"Oh but I'm not." The crimson mech snarled, his dark look pinning Thundercracker, "What happened to Vos is a black eye to the Autobot cause, something we all regret. Do find it funny though, that you didn't tell them about Praxus."

A snarl from the seeker had Sideswipe grinning, "Not so innocent are you Decepticon?"

"What's Praxus?" Danny asked slowly, as Callie continued to glare at the Autobot.

"Praxus," Sideswipe hissed, "was a neutral city on Cyberton. A completely neutral city that wanted nothing to do with this war! It was the Decepticon's that burned Praxus to the ground, killed just as many door-winger sparklings that day, as seekerlings. Thousands of Praxians died that day, and I only know of _three_ that survived the attack, because the 'Con's thought it would be a great idea to use an EMP weapon. Anyone caught outside, their sparks guttered out in an instant."

A snarl from the seeker made Sideswipe smirk, "What? All fun and games when you're the only one who's telling lies? Or did you just _forget_ what happened to Praxus? Point is, the Decepticon's aren't as innocent as Thundercracker has made them out to be."

"What happened to this Sentinel Prime character? He still leads the Autobots?" Danny asked after a moment of strained silence, not ready to believe either the Autobot or Decepticon. Callie snorted taking a step back towards Thundercracker, still believing his side of the story without question. The act made Thundercracker's spark twist; he had to find a way to protect her.

"Well, that may be the _only_ point that we agree on. Sentinel Prime, and most of his council were assassinated after the attack on Vos. Can't say I was overly upset about it." There was nothing but bitter truth in the frontliners words, and it was a known fact that if not for Optimus, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker would have probably been Decepticons, "But when Optimus became the Prime, things changed."

Sideswipe paused when he saw Callie's confusion at his leader's name, and it caused the frontliner to snort, "Didn't even tell you about Optimus Prime, did he?"

Callie glared at Sideswipe, taking yet another step towards Thundercracker, showing her loyalty to him. Danny held firm where she was, "Who's this Optimus Prime?"

"Autobot leader. Took over after Sentinel was dead." Sideswipe started but was cut off by Thundercracker's snarl.

"He's just as bad! He wanted to re-build the council, keep things just as they were." The seeker snarled, true anger raising.

Blue optics narrowed in on Thundercracker, "You are so full of slag seeker, it's actually disgusting! Of course Optimus wanted to create a new council! Someone needed to run Cyberton!"

"Yes, Autobots!"

"He offered a seat to Megatron as well!" Sideswipe snarled, "It was _your_ leader that refused! It would have been fifty, fifty. Autobots _and_ Decepticons! And before you even try to say that the same council members would have been on the new council, anyone who was deemed unfit to rule was removed from the council."

"But allowed to live!" Thundercracker snarled back, his tanks lurching again, "They committed so many crimes, so many atrocities and Prime let them live!"

"And you know where they went! To the fragging Decepticons! Look at Shockwave; he sat on the council under Sentinel. He did _terrible_ things to his own people, and yet Megatron still, _still_ accepted him into the fold. If the Decepticon`s actually win this Primus-damned war, that one-optic freak will be back in charge. So don't you give me that crap!"

Thundercracker snapped his jaw shut with a sharp snap and felt his shoulder mounted weapons humming with energy out of habit at being attacked, even verbally; Sideswipe took the powering of weapons as a threat and once again powered up his own weapon. The gun in his servos vibrated a little as it released its own hum of energy.

Thundercracker disliked Shockwave too, but the waves of pure _hatred_ that rolled off the Autobot actually stunned the seeker a little.

"So...wait." Danny's softer, confused, voice came from beneath the two Cybertronions, drawing their attention back to the small human, "What happened between Megatron and Optimus?"

Again, Sideswipe gave her a bitter smile, "Optimus Prime offered a seat to Megatron. Asked him to rule Cyberton with him, make things better, do it right the second time around. No more suffering, no more starving and no more _war_. It was slagging bucket head that turned him down, said he wanted it all. Megatron got greedy, and we are all suffering the consequences."

The seeker snarled at the frontliner`s words, not likening how close to home they hit; it was something that Thundercracker had thought about all the time. Things the seeker would go over and over in his mind every time Megatron beat Starscream into submission, every time his wing mate was shoved into the Hole. Every time his bonded was damaged, Thundercracker wondered if it would be better with the Prime or what could have been.

"It was the Decepticon's that forced the Autobot`s off world, not the other way around." Sideswipe finished with a snarl.

Shifting his attention from Danny to Thundercracker, the frontliner canted his helm, "What I don't understand, _Decepticon_ is why these human's know anything about us at all. Why would you talk with them if all you wanted was to get away from us? Why use them, get close to them only to screw them over later. You and I both know that Megatron wants Earth for its resources, and that he will enslave the human race. What then Thundercracker?"

"You're such a liar." Callie snarled from her position in front of Thundercracker, her hands balled into fists and she stood a little taller in an effort to make herself look bigger; Danny on the other hand, didn't look so convinced that her cousin was right.

The lambo-former snorted, "What are you going to do Thundercracker, when Megatron finds out? You must know he will find out, it's only a matter of time. Or maybe Starscream will sell them out. Are you going to be the one to kill them? You seem to be fond of them...in a creepy Decepticon kind of way, so are you going to vaporize them? Offer a quick death to your pets?"

Callie snarled at the Autobot's words, while Lucy looked confused, frightened, at what was going on. All too aware at the tension in the garage, far too aware.

The frontliner's words were cruel, designed to hurt the seeker, and the words hit the mark hard, but the frontliner wasn't done, "Or maybe your trine will kill them? Crush their bones and squash their fragile bodies between their servos? I bet Skywarp would have a ball with that. Maybe you'd feel their bone snap between their digits through your little trine bond. Maybe he'll play in their blood, that sort of thing. If your wing mates do it, I'm sure you'll feel the back lash of the enjoyment they'll get out of it. That what you want?"

Callie snarled, "You. Are. A. Liar!"

His spark twisted painfully in its casting, knowing his time in the sun was just about up. At least, he found a way to keep Lucy and Callie safe. The slagging Autobots would always protect weak creatures like humans, would protect _his_ humans now that he could not.

Never taking his optics from the seeker, the frontliner smirked, "Lying am I? Ask him! Ask him if I'm lying, if he only used you to get here in a _pathetic_ desperate attempt to escape."

Callie suddenly spun around, her blonde hair flying around her head like a whip, as she turned to face the seeker, a look of firm determination, "Well?"

Thundercracker felt his shoulders droop before he could actually comprehend that they fell, and for a moment he wilted in on himself; chin falling to his chest, spinal struts bowed out and his arms hung limply to his sides as a sudden wave of hurt washed over the seeker. He couldn't bring himself to look at her for a moment, couldn't see the look of trust that Callie no doubt held.

His posture surprised the frontliner and had him instantly on edge, ready for an attack, not trusting the seeker.

'This must be done. Only way to keep them safe.' the seeker thought bitterly to himself, and for a moment he curled his servos into fists as a sudden rage ran through him. He didn't trust the Autobots and he instantly hated the plan that had formed in his processor, but he was out of options, out of time and that burned worse than any kind of acid.

Squaring his shoulders, body tense, he straightened up and schooled his faceplates into an easy sneer while his tanks churned with guilt, "The Autobot is right." The jet started coldly, a tone he had yet to use directly at her, "I only used you to get away from Nebraska because I didn't want to be captured by the Autobots and you failed at even that."

The blonde flinched as though he had struck her, her whole body jerked and she took an involuntary step back as her jaw dropped in shock as hurt and betrayal filled her dark blue eyes.

He could practically see her heart constrict and break at his cruel words, and it nearly killed him. Nearly caused his resolve to waiver and crumble, making him want to apologies for his hurtful words, explain in gentler tones his side of things.

It made Thundercracker's spark constrict painfully in its casting to know he could not, "W-what?" Callie managed in an unusually small voice.

"You heard me." The seeker said in the same cold voice, despite the hurt that rose like bile in his spark and he leveled a glare at her, "I used you. I don't care about you _or_ Lucy. You were just convenient for escape."

"You're lying." Callie said quietly as liquid filled her eyes, and it made Thundercracker's resolve waver all the more. He looked at her with crystal clear vision and cursed his processor; of course it would clear for this so that he would be forced to remember it with such clarity.

Forcing his every building guilt down hard, he gave her a flat look and all but snarled, "No. I'm not. I am a Decepticon Callie, I'm here to destroy and rule your world. I am a bad guy," the words were bitter on his glossa, but he forced himself to continue, "and I will kill you and Lucy if I must." Another lie to protect her, to push her away and it made him want to purge.

"You want to live? Leave with the Autobot, human." he told her coldly, never giving any out ward indication of the turbulent emotions he felt, "I will not hesitate to end you."

He did hesitate, however, and the fact the humans still lived was the proof of that. Sideswipe gave the seeker an odd look, not really sure if this was all a trick or if something else was going on here. He wished Prowl was there, the tactician would know what to say and do to get the blonde human away from the seeker.

The tears from Callie's eyes finally welled, sliding slowly down her tanned cheeks and it nearly broke Thundercracker right then and there; when had be become so weak? What had this small human and her sister done to him? Once, he would have brushed her tears aside as nothing, would not have cared that she wept. Now though, he despised to see her cry and being the cause of it? It nearly killed him, just like it had when Skywarp wept.

Her small head dropped as did her shoulders. Her lower lip caught in her teeth to stop it from trembling, biting hard enough to break the skin.

From where he knelt, he couldn't see her face; see the way her blue eyes shifted back and forth behind her tears as she thought and considered all the information. Her chest heaved and her lungs hitched in a soft sob as she fought hard to keep her composure as she thought about the events of the last few days. Thundercracker didn't see her sadness suddenly melt into awareness and dark acceptance as another sob wracked her thin frame.

She was still hurt by what he had said, her small heart had curdled at his harsh words, but it didn't add up. If he hadn't cared, why save her like he had? Sure she had given him a ride to supposed safety, but if he cared nothing for her, why defend her with such viciousness? She had seen his face just before he killed those men, had seen the blinding need to do violence in order to protect her. It didn't add up.

Why even talk to her if he was just using her? Why talk about his family or show her his spark for that matter? Callie's dark blue eyes narrowed through her tears and her mouth pursed into an angry pout.

Casting a glance over her shoulder, Callie saw that Danny had taken a step towards Sideswipe; drawing lines that Callie didn't like. Slowly she turned her attention back to Thundercracker tipping her face up to look up at him. His face gave away nothing as he glared down angrily at her, but his body was too tense to be completely telling the truth; his wing trembled slightly with his edginess.

Squaring her shoulders and forcing her breathing to slow, Callie looked him in the optic, tears still falling from her dark blue eyes, "So Decepticons are here to take over Earth?" her voice was rougher than she would have liked.

"Yes." He hissed angrily at her in truth.

"And enslave humanity?" A soft sob broke from her chest, and even Sideswipe felt a little bad for the girl.

"Yes."

"Destroy our planet?"

"Yes!" His voice raised in his irritation.

"Kill the Autobots?"

"YES!"

"You care about me and Lucy?"

"Yes! I mean! No. Go with the Autobot human, my patience grows thin." He snarled at her, angry that she had tripped him up.

A smug smirk grew through her tears, "You are so transparent its pathetic Thundercracker."

His weapons began to hum with power for the third time as a warning to Callie and from his peripheral vision the seeker could see Sideswipe raise his own weapon in response to the unspoken threat.

"Callie, get away from him. He's dangerous." Danny said, taking a step towards her cousin, worry etched in her features.

Scrubbing the tears from her cheeks, the blonde shook her head, "No he won't. If he was going to hurt me, he'd have done it by now."

Hiking his wing even higher, Thundercracker snarled at the blonde, "Don't tempt me Callie."

Liquid still danced in her blue eyes, but she held firm in her defiance, "You're not a bad guy Thundercracker."

The words felt like a knife to the spark and for a moment surprise and hurt fluttered across his face before he regained control; he was a bad guy who had done terrible things. He just needed to prove to her that it was true.

"Callie," he snarled, watching as Danny took another step towards the blonde and Sideswipe had his blaster leveled at the seeker's chest plates, "go with the Autobot. You mean nothing to me and I will kill you. Do you really want Lucy to have to burry you as well?"

The blonde didn't even bother to try to stifle the wince at his nasty words or the look of hurt that crossed her face. She just took it and volleyed back her own brand of nastiness, "Do it then. If you think you actually can."

"Don't tempt him girl." Sideswipe growled, holding his weapon steady at the seeker.

Her shoulders shot back and her chin jutted forward in defiance, she ignored Sideswipe, "You do bad things Thundercracker, have done bad things but you're not a bad guy."

The seeker snarled at her and in a flurry of movement, Thundercracker dove forward, slamming massive fists on either side of her soft, easily breakable body, causing the Autobot to hiss unhappily and he twitched as though he were going to lunge at the seeker.

The cement on either side of Callie's soft body cracked and buckled, sending pieces of debris flying into the air. It nearly gutted him to do it, but he needed her to go with the Autobot.

Callie didn't even flinched, but tears still danced in her blue eyes; behind her Danny let out a strangled gasp and shot to her cousin, stopping short of the seeker's fists. Her taunt body was suspended between reaching past the invisible barrier to grab her cousin and not knowing if that would anger the seeker even more.

"Thundercracker, so help me!" the crimson Autobot sneered, "If you don't back off I'll rip your other wing off!"

Never taking his optic from the blonde, the seeker snarled, "Stay out of this Autobot."

His comment made the human's grin grow, her tears become less, "I told you, you wouldn't be able to do it."

The seeker snarled at her, but she pushed on, plainly ignoring him, "I've seen your spark Thundercracker." Sideswipe gasped behind her, "You've done bad things. That doesn't make you a terrible being."

"Why are you making this so fragging hard! Just go with the slagging Autobot like a normal person would! I am here to take over your planet, do the sensible thing and leave!" he snarled back, real anger rising to the surface; why did she have to be so slagging stubborn!

Callie, however, had dug her heels in and she was going to get her answer's, "No. I know you care about us, otherwise you wouldn't have _vaporized_ those men. Decepticon or no, you wouldn't let anything happen to us if you could help it. That makes you better. It makes you good. So why are you doing this!"

Blinking at the human, Thundercracker sighed in aggravation and leaned back, putting his servos over his faceplates, "What is wrong with you! Why couldn't you just be normal and run to the Autobots like everyone else!"

"No! You don't get to blast into our lives, make us actually care about you then drop us like this."

"I. Am. Here. To take over your planet! Why can't you get that through your head?" He asked angrily, dropping his servos to glare angrily at her.

Tension raised between the Deception and his human charge as they glared at each other; ironically Thundercracker couldn't decide if he was glad that she wasn't crying any more or not. Danny cleared her throat suddenly, and neither even bothered to turn towards her.

"Yeah, Callie. Let's step away from the psychotic alien and come over here." Danny said in a placid voice.

Callie whirled, narrowing her eyes on her cousin, "Do not patronize me Danny!"

Brown eyes blinked at Callie, "I'm not patronizing you. But let's be realistic here. He's here to take over our world. Not play nice. Let's just let the Autobot take him and be done with it."

Sideswipe snapped, "It's not that easy."

"Well either way, lets step away from the psychotic alien. Shall we?" Danny said, reaching to pull her cousin away from the seeker.

"He's not psychotic!"

Danny gave her a flat look, "You brought home a fucking hostile alien."

"So did you!"

"But at least he's not trying to take over the bloody world. Did you miss that part? The whole taking over the world bit?"

"I did not miss anything Danny!" Callie sneered back, jerking her arm out of her cousins hands, "I just. I want to know why! Thundercracker is not inherently evil. Not in the way you are thinking."

"Okay, yeah. And stalk home syndrome much?" Danny said sarcastically; behind her Sideswipe lowered his weapon again, completely confused by the afternoon events and the new drama playing out below them.

"This is the weirdest slag I've ever dealt with. Fragging crazy humans." Sideswipe muttered wide eyed.

"I do not have stalk home syndrome. I just want to know why he's acting like this! Okay yeah, he's here to take over the world, but then why save us? Why talk to us? It makes no sense, unless Thundercracker actually cares about us. He's not the evil creature you are making him out to be!"

"You barley know me." The seeker snapped.

The girls ignored him, giving their attention instead to Sideswipe, who was giving the seeker a sideways look. Danny squinted up at the Autobot, frowning, "Alright then lambo, why do you think that _Thundercracker_ here is pushing my cousin away. Besides the obvious answer, of course, that he's a freaking psycho path trying to take over the world and never cared about Callie in the first place."

Callie shot her cousin a hard glare, scowling at her with hard blue eyes.

"Too protect you from Megatron. If he ever found out that he even liked your cousin, old bucket head would have you killed just to destroy the weakness in his seeker."

There was stunned awe in the frontliners voice at the revelation as a look of trumpet came over Callie. Stunned, Sideswipe softly said, "You actually care about them. It makes the most sense, that's why you're pushing her away so hard."

For a moment every one turned to stare at the seeker, causing him to shift uncomfortably when Sideswipe suddenly pointed and burst out laughing again. "Oh, oh sweet Primus! You actually like them."

More laughter bubbled up from the frontliner as he continued to point at the seeker. Hiking up a greying wing and burning with humiliation Thundercracker snarled at the Autobot, "Shut up!" the seeker didn't think his pride could take much more of a beating. How wrong he was.

Sideswipe just made the frontliner laugh harder.

"So, wait. Are we in danger because of this?" Danny asked, giving the seeker a dark look, "Like. From your leader or something?"

Still laughing, the crimson frontliner managed to get out, "Oh Primus yes! Megatron _will_ find out, it's only a matter of time. He always finds this slag out."

"It's why you need to go with the Autobots. They will keep you safe." Thundercracker said firmly, darkly, scowling up at the Autobot. He loathed the idea at having to send Callie and Lucy with _Sideswipe_ of all mechs, but he was out of options.

"What about you?" Callie asked, the quiet members of her family heads bouncing back and forth between the two sides of the room as though they were watching a tennis match.

Thundercracker managed a shrug, suddenly feeling weak again and fell back onto his aft.

A snort from Sideswipe drew the girls attention back to him, "Who cares. We're going to take him in with us and interrogate him. And you will be coming with us until we know you are safe."

Both Callie and Danny turned to give the frontliner a sour look, "What makes you think that we'll go anywhere with you?" Danny asked, her sarcasm back.

"You wanna die?" Sideswipe asked lightly.

"Not really. But how do I know that we'll be any better off with you!" She snapped back.

Giving her a flat look, Sideswipe sighed, "Because we're the good guys here."

"Good is a very relative term." Danny hissed back as the sound of a car pulling up to the garage filled the momentary silence.

The new noise had everyone in the garage freezing where they were for a moment, listening to the new noises.

"You expecting company?" Thundercracker asked darkly.

"No, You?"

"Not that kind of company." The seeker said quietly.

Danny rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically, "They're probably just here to have their car fixed. This _is_ a garage after all, not an alien hotel." she turned and walked to one of the windows across from the Shelby, "This shit is so much worse than what happened in Orlando."

"This is nowhere near as bad as Orlando."Callie replied softly, her eyes down cast and sad.

"You brought home an evil hostile alien whose psychotic warlord leader may want to kill us when he finds out you were nice to him. This is way worse than Orlando-o-o Shit." Danny froze by the window, her eyes wide and the two Cybertronions could hear her heart begin to pound in her chest, "GET DOWN!"

Callie frowned at her as Danny bolted away from the window and tackled the blonde to the ground like a line backer; up on the second floor Aleyah and Liz dove into Liz's room while Mia quickly picked up a sombre Lucy and vaulted over the side of the stairs railing. The curly haired girl flattened herself out along the floor, pressing Lucy under her.

"What in the Pit are you do-" Sideswipe was cut off as a rain of bullets tore through the windows, sending glass shattering to the ground. More bullets ripped through the weak tin door of the building and the echoes of the shots could be heard outside; bullets slammed into the side of the Shelby's crimson paint, effectively destroying it. Bullets pinged off Cybertronion armour, sending bullets ricocheting in different directions.

The noise was deafening as bang after bang of full automatic weapons going off in quick succession and the suddenly loud _whizz_ of bullets filled the air; small sparks ignited as the small shards of metal bounced off armour and tools.

Acting purely on instinct, Thundercracker threw himself sideways, landing awkwardly on his winged side and back to the door. He curled as best he could around Mia and Lucy's shaking frames as bullets continued to tare through the tin door, pinning off his battered armour.

Straining to turn to check on Callie, the seeker was relieved to see that Sideswipe had done the same, his massive ruby form wrapped around Callie and Danny; the burgundy haired girl had her cousin pinned beneath her, her arms wrapped around both their heads in a weak way of protection. Aleyah and Liz had managed to crawl further into the room, but there was nothing Thundercracker could do to protect them.

The noises seemed to go on for eternity as more and more bullets tore through the tin door and windows with a horrifying _rat-a-tat-tat-tat,_ until it suddenly stopped as quickly as it started. Bright clean sunlight filtered through the holes in a disturbingly pretty way; an uncanny silence filled the void of what used to be noise and the seeker could hear six human hearts beating hard and fast in their chests.

The Shelby was destroyed, completely ruined from the attack; bullets had shattered the windows and ripped through the thick metal panels, leaving gaping black holes in its once pristine paint job. A puddle of fluid was quickly forming beneath the car's front end in a very worrisome way.

For a moment, no one moved, not even dared breath or cycle air. Thundercracker shifted so that he lay on his elbows, one arm stretched out to protect the girls. Lucy and Mia didn't move a muscle, the small blonde buried her head into Mia's forearm, hiding her face from the world; her small hand clamped over her ears in an attempt to stop the noise as Mia pressed her curvy body down onto the nine year olds in an attempt to protect her.

"Lucy?"The seeker called out as quietly as he could, afraid to speak to loudly and disturbed the eerie silence.

A small shifting from the petite creatures beneath him and two small faces tipped up to look at him. Worry pinched both sets of faces, but the seeker was disturbed by the lack of fear in both faces, but especially Lucy's.

It meant that this sort of situation occurred enough that she was no longer afraid when it happened. Wriggling out from Mia's hold, Lucy slowly crawled towards the seeker, knowing she would be safest with him; again Thundercracker was distressed to see her keeping low so that she would not be hit should they begin to shoot again. Someone would have had to teach her to move like that at some point.

"I'm okay TC." The nine year old paused and glanced over to her cousin, "Come on Mia. We'll be safer with TC." She whispered.

"But...but he's a bad guy." Mia stressed green eyes wide on the seeker.

Huffing a gentle sigh, Lucy glared at Mia, "Na-aw! TC's a good guy. He protects us."

With that, Lucy finished crawling to the seeker, settling under his chin and the Decepticon knew he was lost as the warmth returned in his spark. He quickly crushed it though when he thought she just didn't understand what was going on...

But that wasn't right either. Lucy was far too intelligent not to get a gleam of what was happening around her. She had also spent too much of her young life growing up around ruthless humans not to know what was going on.

"B-but." Mia squeaked out.

"Mia!" Lucy hissed, keeping her voice low, "They are trying to shoot us. Thundercracker will protect us!" it was tone of voice that Callie would use when asking a question, when she already knew the answer, and the seeker knew that was where Lucy had learned that particular tone from.

The green eyed girl blinked up at the Decepticon then looked down at Lucy, "Alright." Army crawling across the ground Mia slithered towards the seeker, coming to curl with Lucy under his chin. He could smell the slight fear coming off the older girl as Lucy curled into her cousin; he didn't like that fear and he would make these men pay. One way or another.

The distinct sound of clips being ejected and reloaded filled the disturbing silence, prompting Danny to lift her head and tuck her arms under her body so that she could come up onto her elbows, "Everyone okay?" her gentle voice called out.

"We're alright." Mia called from under Thundercracker's strong frame.

"Liz, Aleyah?" Callie called, not moving from her spot yet.

"We're alright." Aleyah called down, keeping to the vary back of the room where it was safest.

Callie nodded, coming up onto her elbows like Danny had and the cousins shared a dark look, emotions flying over their faces too quickly to read. Worry, fear, anger and hate flashed over their small faces and were the only emotions that the Autobot caught between the dozen others that flashed.

Above the girls, Sideswipe tensed as a rough male voice was heard, "Think we gott 'em?"

"We need to check." Came a deep reply that was cold as ice. These men were just doing their job, they cared nothing for the lives they were about to end, and everyone in the garage knew it.

Danny sighed softly, sounding more tired than worried and she gave her cousin another meaningful look. The blonde rolled her blue eyes and nodded, knowing what her cousin was asking through years of working and living together. Suddenly the two were moving, staying close to the ground, they crawled away from Sideswipe; Callie crawled to one of the work benches and Danny to the big red tool boxes.

"What in the Pit are you doing!" Sideswipe hissed as he came to his knees, shoulders hunched and thighs taunt, ready to lunge in case he needed to get between a volley of bullets and the girls again.

Thundercracker turned his helm in time to see Callie reached under the bench, her small hands probing past the lip, searching for something. The seeker's spark constricted in worry when he saw that she was so far from Sideswipe, and knew that she was in even more danger should the men from Boston start shooting again.

Danny, who was crouched beside the tool box, swung her head towards the Autobot and pressed her finger to her lips. Irritation was written clearly on her small face from him talking.

The brown eyed girl turned her attention back to whatever she was searching for behind the red box, her own hand searching for something.

It was Callie who found what she was looking for first; two soft clicks of clips bring forced open and a 12-gauge shot gun fell into her waiting hands. Her small hand disappeared back underneath the bench, probing at the lip and with another soft click she pulled a small box of slugs out, setting them on the floor.

Thundercracker watched in frozen horror as his jaw dropped and his tanks twisted as she loaded and cocked the weapon with the cold efficiency of someone who has done it before. He watched, in the same frozen state, as Callie crawled back towards Danny, Shotgun and slugs in hand. He watched as her soft, friendly fetchers hardened into something else; her big dark blue eyes becoming blocks of cold ice.

He recognised the look on her face as the same one as veteran soldiers got prior to going into battle. It was cold knowledge that death would soon be following their actions.

Danny pulled her hand from behind the tool box, a glock held firmly, as she reached underneath the tool box and pulled out the magazine for the weapon. Slamming it home, Danny coolly took off the safety and cocked the weapon.

Sideswipe's jaw dropped as he watched the femmes preparing their weapons; there weren't many human femmes on base and the crimson frontliner had never really met any of them with the exception of Mearing. That female scared the living slag out of the Autobots as much the Nest soldiers, and even Mearing didn't use a weapon.

The United State's Director of National Intelligence couldn't even load a weapon as well as either of the young humans here, and to Sideswipe, that made them much more valuable as allies.

Watching in astonishment, Sideswipe could only think that television never portrayed human femmes like this. Normally they were weak, flighty creatures that always screamed for help and waited to be rescued. Not loading a 12-guadge and a glock with cool efficiency.

Sideswipe watched as Danny shifted around so that she crouched beside the door, putting all her weight on the balls of her feet; as Callie came to crouch in the same position in front of the tool box they heard footsteps crunching into the gravel outside, the shooters coming closer.

Danny put her head down, her bangs covering her eyes as her head began to bob and Callie could see her lips moving, singing silently to a song in her head. It was a nervous twitch the blonde knew, but one that Danny deliberately used to make other people think she was bat-shit crazy. In reality it was something that would help her calm enough to think clearly.

The crimson mech shifted, coming to kneel behind the humans and harshly whispered, "This is ridicules! Move."

Callie's blonde hair flew behind her head as she whipped around to glare at Sideswipe, throwing her hand up and finger to her mouth to hush him. Danny just rolled her eyes and shook her head, forcing herself to concentrate on the footsteps coming ever closer.

The damage was already done, however, and the men outside paused. The same voice from before quietly said, "I just heard something. Someone's alive in there."

That time even Danny tossed the frontliner a dirty look. She rolled her eyes and shook her head at the crimson mech, mouthing the word 'idiot.' Both girls heads turned back to the door as they heard first two then three footsteps coming closer to the door.

Callie pressed a hand to Danny's shoulder to give it a hard squeeze; the brown eyed girl swallowed hard, forcing herself to breath with deep, easy breaths.

The footsteps got closer as the gravel crunched beneath unseen feet. Both Thundercracker and Sideswipe tensed, not entirely sure what was about to happen but had a pretty good that it was going to be very bad.

Danny settled the gun between her knees, the muzzle pointing down to the ground her head down, listening to the footsteps. Callie took a deep breath, her cold blue eyes focused on the door, waiting for it to open.

Then the Cybertronions heard the door handle turn, they both tensed and had to fight the urge to send power to their own blaster to get into the middle of the fight. They managed to resist however, thinking that they would only make things worse.

Everything else seemed to happen in slow motion; as the steel grey door opened, swinging inward to hide the car thief, Danny shifted her weight back, falling onto her heels as she slowly stood. Years of experience kept her graceful movements silent.

The first man, who was at least a head taller and could have hurt the girls with ease, came around the door, his stubby SMG leading the way. His dark, cold hazel eyes fell on Callie first as she stated crouched on the ground.

She looked unafraid as Thundercracker thought his spark was going to jump from its casting as his fear spiked; he prepped his shoulder mounted weapon, ready to use it the moment he raised that damned gun.

He never had the chance.

As his dark, cruel smile split over white teeth, his hazel eyes sparkling with nasty intent, Danny stepped from the shadow of the door. So intent on watching Callie, who watched him with uninterested board eyes, that he didn't notice the other girl.

Raising her arm straight and true, Danny raised the glock, her eyes cold and her will set, she nuzzled the weapon to the back of his head. Due to the height difference, the angle was tilted up, but that mattered little to the car thief.

There was a flash of fear and realization in the would-be-killers eyes and Danny pulled the trigger before he could turn his weapon on the car thief. With a loud _bang_ that echoed off the walls of the garage, a bullet tore through the skull and brain matter, ending his life in a mist of blood and bone.

Danny dropped back into her crouch as the body fell heavily to the ground with a dull thud; a second man came rushing around the door when he heard the gun shot, his own SMG raised, dark eyes hunting for the shooter.

He didn't stand a chance as Callie pressed the butt of her weapon against her shoulder and calmly too aim for the man's chest; absentmindedly she saw him raising his weapon, but it never registered as a threat in the blondes mind as she pulled the trigger. The blast from the shot gun jerked hard against her shoulder, but she ignored it as she watched the slug slam into her attacker; the man fell back from the shot that ripped into his chest, spattering more blood and bone into the air and he was dead before he hit the ground.

Blood pooled around the two dead bodies as Callie and Danny stood as one, moving to the door, their weapons raised and ready to be used. They quickly came around the steel door, coming face to face with a very shocked, frightened kid. Couldn't have been more then eighteen.

The two weapons were shoved into his face, his frightened brown eyes widening with crippling shock; behind him his fourth companion had deemed the 'mission' a failure and was hauling ass back to his plain white car, leaving the kid to his fate.

The girls shared a dark look before turning their attention back to the kid; his slight frame trembled with fear, his pupils dilated as his gaze never left the two black holes of the barrels that bore into him like evil eyes.

Thundercracker turned and straightened up, more than willing to intervene should the male human try anything stupid, but he couldn't stop the core deep shock he felt just then. It felt as though his turbo boosters had just given out and he was plummeting to the earth. When in the Pit had Callie learned to use a gun! Apparently she had left some key points out as well.

Risking a glance at the Autobot, the seeker saw that he was as tense as himself, his crimson body ready for action, but his face showed the same shock as he felt.

A soft, trembling voice brought the jet's attention back to the humans. "Please..."

"Shut up." Danny snarled, never taking her eyes from the weapon that hung loose in his own hand.

Shoving her gloved hand out, Danny gave a hard demand, "The gun. _Now_."

His hands trembling, the boy passed the small hand gun to her waiting hand; Danny clicked the safety on and tucked her hand behind her thigh. Sill holding her glock in the kids face, Danny said calmly, "You listen and listen well boy. You tell Neil that it was Paul that hired me. Deal with him, not me. Next time I so much as _think_ one of you Boston ass holes are even in the same _city_ as me, I'm coming after him. Understand?"

The kid's head bobbed up and down, tears nearly falling from his brown eyes. Danny frowned and Callie kept her shot gun pressed into her shoulder; she'd had too many situations go awry because she relaxed too soon.

"Good." Danny said, lowering her glock, "Get out of here. And do yourself a favour, get away from Neil before he gets you killed."

The kid blinked once at the girls before turning tail and ran as though he was being chased by monsters. The girls could hear his sob of relief when he saw that his companion had waited for him, and the kid practically threw himself into the passenger seat. The white car took off, the passengers not once looking back for their missing companions.

Callie let out a relieved sigh, the tension draining from her taunt body like water as Danny quietly closed the door.

Turning to face her cousin as she clicked the safety on her glock, Danny let out a soft sigh, "Welcome home Callie." she muttered darkly. Her cold brown eyes shifting over to the fresh...problem they would have to deal with.

Callie's blue eyes suddenly blazed with anger as Danny sifted the glock to her other hand, resting it along the weapon she had just taken; without warning the blonde stalked up to her cousin, punching her in the side of her face, her small tanned fist colliding with Danny`s nose while she examined the new problem.

The car thief stumbled back a bit, but didn't lose her footing, her gloved hand coming up to her face at the sudden attack.

"Ghezz! Callie, what was that for!" Danny hissed, "Seriously man, you hit like a freaking girl!"

Callie's face scrunched up in anger and again she was stunned by how easily Danny could ruffle her proverbial feathers, "This is entirely your fault!" the blonde hissed.

"Granted." Danny shrugged, now examining her fingers for blood.

"If you had just left things well enough alone, we could have stayed here. I told you not to take that job in Boston. I told you!" Callie said angrily, tears suddenly coming to her dark eyes as realization set in, "I'm sick of this! I don't want to be afraid that I'm going to get shot anymore Danny! I don't want to have to kill anyone anymore because they want to kill me first! I am sick of this!" It was a desperate plea to her cousin that took all the anger out of her.

Heaving a heavy sigh, Danny finally softened, "I know, and I'm sorry. But right now, we need to deal with this." Danny's head tilted to the two corpses on the floor.

Callie heaved a sigh, stalking back to the bench, dropping her shot gun onto the table. She leaned over the work bench, pressing her palms into the rough wood; her shoulders hunched and her head dropped low in a sign of grief. Grief that was not directed towards those who tried to murder them in their home, but grief for the safety that had been lost to them, yet again.

Danny allowed Callie her moment of sadness, allowing the blonde time to raise her head with a deep sigh. She turned to the door, not looking at her cousin or the Cybertronions, not yet ready to face Thundercracker, "I'll get the burn barrel and gasoline. You get the tarps, bleach and a bucket."

Danny nodded, "I'll get the rags too."

Callie nodded, then disappeared outside. Danny took a deep breath, dropped her own weapons on the work bench and stalked passed the bloody messes on the floor and then the two large warriors that sat stunned on either side of the garage.

"Can I come out?" Lucy asked when she saw her cousin storm passed.

"No." Came Danny's firm reply, her eyes forward as she walked to the Shelby. She disappeared behind the car, and began shuffling around with the storage that lined the walls. Lucy pouted and muttered quietly that no one ever let her see.

Mia, still staring up at the seeker, still a little worried at being so close, muttered "It's to protect you hun."

It just made Lucy pout more and cross her little arms in irritation, "Never let me see."

Callie chose to ignore her sister as she dragged a large, steal barrel into the garage, a small jerry can tucked under her arm, Danny came out from the storage area, two tarps tucked under one arm and a red bucket with a bottle of bleach, rags and a mop in the other.

The car thief stopped to look at the side of her car and she sighed, "Well. Shelby's dead."

Carefully placing the barrel in the middle of the garage, Callie turned to face her cousin, "Are you kidding me! Who cares about the car, let's just be glad that no one's dead. How about that!"

Danny shrugged and continued her way back to her cousin, "I am happy that no one's dead. Means it's okay to mourn the car."

Callie rolled her blue eyes and shook her head, focusing on the easy banter with her cousin. It was easier to focus on that then the sadness that they would be moving yet again, "There is something so wrong with you."

"Let me count the ways." Danny sighed as she dropped her own items onto the table, tilting her head to crack the bones in her neck.

As Sideswipe watched the small car thief pick up a tarp and lay it out flat on the ground and Callie slipped on her own gloves and began to wipe the prints off the guns with a rag, the frontliner turned his stunned gaze to the seeker, "Nebraska?"

"Yes." The seeker said calmly, not entirely sure what to make of the situation. Callie, his sweet, innocent, defenceless, Callie had just killed a man. In cold blood. Didn't even blink. It wasn't so much the violence that stunned him, and most likely Sideswipe, but the fact that it had been his seemingly innocent charge that had done it.

Where in the Pit did this slag come from?

The frontliner paused with whatever he was about to say, to watch Danny set the second tarp down beside the first, still folded up, and then walk to collect the two SMG's for Callie to clean, "You know they're not right."

"I'm beginning to get a gleam of that idea." The seeker said gently, carefully watching Callie as she spun around to scowl at him.

"I can hear you." The blonde snapped, "I'm still the same person TC."

"Can you give me a hand here?" Danny butted in before Thundercracker could respond.

Nodding, the blonde walked over to her cousin, coming to stand by the head of the man that she had shot. The two girls bend down, Danny looping her arms around his legs and Callie curling her arms under his arm pits, and they lifted his dead weight from the floor.

The girls moved the body with difficulty and lay it on the tarp; blood soaked into Callie's tank top. She firmly ignored it and moved to the second body as Thundercracker snorted, "You just killed someone! I didn't even think you could use a slagging weapon, never mind kill someone!"

As Danny and Callie crouched to pick up the second body, the burgundy haired girl snorted, "Please. Callie was just involved in our operation as I was. I dealt with the theft part of it, but Callie was a smuggler. She and Frank could move anything just about anywhere."

"Yes, but unlike you," Callie said softly as she lowered the second body beside the first, "I was never proud of it."

The blonde then moved on to finish wiping her prints from the guns, after first duping her gloves in to the barrel and slipping on a pair of disposable ones on.

Danny shrugged, looking up at Thundercracker, "Yeah well, Callie can throw down with the best of 'em. Trust me."

With that, Danny covered the bodies with the second tarp before moving to collect the red bucket that had previously been emptied of its contents and headed out side. The others could hear water running out side before Danny came back in, the bucket only a quarter full.

"Hey lambo, can you open the bay door just a little?" Danny asked as she closed the small door behind her.

"Um. Sure." The frontliner said quietly and did as he was asked, having a little difficulty with unlocking the door without breaking the lock, "You can call me Sideswipe."

The car thief paused for a moment as she began to take the lid off the bleach, "Danny." She finally said quietly and then began to pour the corrosive chemical into the water until there was more bleach then water in the bucket. Collecting the mop, Danny began to mop up the floor.

Sideswipe understood then why she asked him to open the door. The smell was terribly strong, mingling with the coppery smell of blood. It was enough to make ones tanks churn.

"What do you mean, 'throw down?'" Thundercracker demanded, his optic hard on the back of the blonde's head. He was angry at her for not divulging this particular secret sooner, it really would have helped him understand her better.

Danny opened her mouth to answer, but Callie beat her to it, "You really wanna play who kept the bigger secret Thundercracker?" she asked calmly, "'Cause, I'm pretty sure that the whole, taking over the world thing, is a lot worse than what I've been doing."

The large jet's jaw snapped shut and he pinned her with a glare. Callie, completely unmoved by his scowl snorted and continued to wipe down the weapons, throwing the rags into the barrel as she finished, "That's what I thought. Now sit there, shut up and let us figure this out."

Sideswipe openly laughed at the seeker as Thundercracker snarled at her in offence; which Callie promptly ignored. She had bigger issues to deal with then a seeker who was...well seeking to throw a tantrum.

Danny quickly finished mopping the floor and the smell of bleach filled the air and stung at both fleshy noses and metal nasal structures. The car thief ignored the smell as she carried the diluted bloody water filled bucket outside and dumped it into the gravel. Using her feet, the girl kicked the gravel around, spreading the liquid out even more.

Coming back in, Danny dropped the bucket into the barrel, mop and all. Watching slightly in confusion, the Autobot and Decepticon watched as Callie finished cleaning the weapons and dropped her gloves into the barrel.

"Aleyah, can you grab us some cloths?" Callie called out, bringing attention to her younger cousins for the first time; the pair were standing by the mouth of Liz's door, looking a little shook up but otherwise okay as they watched their cousin and sister.

Thundercracker's spark twisted again when he saw no fear in their small eyes. This was not new to them either.

The black haired female gave the others a quick nod before moving swiftly down the hall and disappeared into what was Danny, Callie and Lucy's room. When her sister left, Liz leaned against the door frame, her small hands digging into the wood as she watched the others move about.

Aleyah quickly emerged from the room with an armful of cloths, and as she bound down the rickety stairs, Danny and Callie began to stip. They tossed their cloths into the barrel, and both the Decepticon and the Autobot turned their helms to give the girls some form of privacy.

"I grabbed the matches too." Aleyah said softly, placing the box on the table and took a step back.

Once the girls re-dressed, Danny picked up the jerry can of gas, dumping all fluid into the barrel, making sure to soak all their clothing and the plastic objects.

Once the entire bucket was empty, the car thief dropped the jerry can and picked up the matches. She pulled one out and struck it along the gritted side to light it before dropping it into the barrel. Flames erupted from steal container with a _whoosh_ , burning away at any evidence that would have been on the clothing.

"An incinerator would have worked better." Callie said gently as she watched her clothing burn.

Danny shrugged, "We make do with what we have. I'm just glad I wasn't wearing my bomber jacket. I love that thing."

The girl turned away to face the tarps as Callie gave her a rueful head shake, "So messed up."

Danny ignored her cousin, they still had other issues to deal with, "How are we going to deal with this issue?"

"The aliens? I haven't got a clue." Callie said, once again worried about Thundercracker's condition. He was leaning back again, sitting on his pedes, his shocked face focused on her. His armour was greying more so and his vents hitched with the effort to cycle air. Yet, he still shielded Lucy from the carnage just beyond him.

Sighing, Danny tilted her head to her sister, "No I mean the bodies. What are we going to do with the bodies? I think I've got a bag or two of lye outside. We could probably steal a shovel or something so that it won't be linked back to us."

Callie blinked for a moment before slowly turning away from the seeker to look at her cousin, shock written on her face, "You're worried about the bodies?"

"Well yeah. What are you worried about?"

"Oh I don't know. Maybe the giant alien warlord that may or may not want us dead. That small problem." Callie sighed as she reached with her hand to rub at her face.

Danny blinked up at Thundercracker and shrugged, "First of all, that's your fault. You brought home the psychotic alien," that prompted a sigh from the blonde, "and I mean, really. What are the odds that your leader will find out about us?"

The seeker sighed and shrugged, "I don't know. But he will want to know how I made it to Los Angela's when I was shot down in Nebraska. There is very little that escapes from Megatron's notice. I had...not considered him finding out until now."

It was a tough admission for the seeker, he tried not to make mistakes like this and often he did not.

Danny sighed, sounding aggravated, "Well. There you go Cal. There is a very good chance that your little pet's leader is going to kill us and there is nothing we can do about it."

" _Pet!_ " Thundercracker snarled in indignation, he was no one's pet! Not Megatron's, not Starscream's and certainly not Callie's.

Danny ignored the seeker, choosing to continue to speak to Callie, further annoying the seeker, "I can't fix that Callie." The car thief suddenly sounded distressed, worried, "I have no idea how to even begin to fix our little alien problem. But this, this I can fix. At least it's something I _can_ fix."

Callie's shoulders dropped, her position deflating. She caught her lower lip in her teeth as worry filled her blue eyes.

"Then what do we do?" she asked, sounding so small and weak to Thundercracker despite the fact she just murdered a man and covered it up.

Sighing, Thundercracker considered his options; if Skywarp came now, the moment he saw Sideswipe he would start shooting. The Autobot would naturally fight back and everyone would end up dead.

However, if the blue seeker didn't get help soon, he would eventually be meeting Primus. Heaving a sigh, and seeing no other way out, Thundercracker regretfully cracked open the bond with Skywarp again.

" _ **Have you left yet?"**_ The blue seeker asked his mate, allowing his consciousness to wrap around the younger seeker.

Joy and happiness filled Thundercracker, and the blue seeker took it all in. He wasn't sure when he would get to feel this again.

" _ **On my way now! Should be there in a few kliks."**_ Skywarp responded happily, blissfully unaware of Thundercracker's spark ache and pain.

Inhaling deeply, the blue jet braced himself for what was about to come, _**"Sky listen to me. The Autobots are here and there is no way out. Stay on the Nemesis."**_

Fear, hurt and protectiveness broke through the bond, _**"What! NO! No TC I won't leave you now. I'm coming. I'll get you out!"**_

" _ **And then we will both be damaged. Even if you managed to get me out of here, you would not be able to get us both out unharmed. This way the Autobots will take me back to their base and repair me. Let us use their resources."**_ The F-15 explained calmly to his small mate.

Feelings of anger and rage ripped through the bond next as Thundercracker felt Skywarp's emotions, _**"That's not fair!"**_ The purple seeker burst, _**"It's not fair! You're almost home, just let me come for you."**_

" _ **No Skywarp."**_ Thundercracker said firmly, leaving no room for argument, _**"You stay on the Nemesis and take care of Starscream. I'll figure something out and get home. Just stay put."**_

" _ **But!"**_

" _ **I love you Sky."**_ Thundercracker sighed as he felt the spark crushing defeat from his mate and quickly cut the connection. No need to prolong the pain for either of them.

Heaving another sigh, Thundercracker noticed that everyone in the room was staring at him a little odd. Coming to the conclusion that he must have spaced out enough for them to notice, the seeker shrugged it off.

Turning his attention to the suspicious looking Autobot, "Calling home?" Sideswipe spat.

"Cancelling my ride." Thundercracker snapped back bitterly, "Can you contact Prime?"

Wary and confused, Sideswipe slowly said, "I can."

"Then I have a deal for him. Tell him, in exchange for my repairs and the ensured safety of the human femmes I shall surrender peacefully." He told him firmly, no sign of humour in the seeker's face.

"Why?" the frontliner asked firmly, not entirely believing the seeker.

"I need the repairs, I'm sure even your poor Autobot senses can see that." Thundercracker snarked.

"Watch it." The crimson mech snapped, interrupting the seeker.

Ignoring the Autobot, the seeker went on, "I also wish no harm to come to Callie and Lucy."

The admission was like acid on his glossa and he loathed admitting it to the damned Autobot. A Decepticon would have taken that admission of weakness and used it to black mail him. The Autobots, on the other hand, were too soft sparked and stupid to do such a thing.

Optimus Prime at the very least would see to it that they were protected.

Still suspicious, Sideswipe canted his helm to the side, "How do I know that this isn't a trap?"

"How could I hurt you or Prime? I can barely stand." The jet shrugged, pained by the truth.

"You actually do care about them?" There was pure amazement in the frontliners voice, to which the Decepticon refused to respond to.

He was a Decepticon warrior after all, and Decepticon warriors simply didn't like weak, useless humans.

...only Callie wasn't as useless as the rest of her species.

Heaving an exasperated sigh, Sideswipe gave a shrug, "Alright. I'll contact Optimus."

"Um, excuse me! Do we get a say?" Danny snapped from below, Callie beside her looking uncertain.

The two Cybertronions shared a look and to humour her, Sideswipe said, "Oh sure. But if Megatron wants you dead, there are not many out there who can protect you."

Danny scowled up at him, "What's going happen to us?"

Heaving a sigh, the frontliner gave a blank, annoyed look, "We'll take you to the base where Prowl and Lennox can figure out what do to with you."

"What kind of base?"

"An army base." Sideswipe said sarcastically, as though the answer should have been obvious.

Danny blinked up at him and sighed, "Lemme guess. An army base that doesn't actually 'exist' right?"

The frontliner frowned then, "Well. I guess so. I've never really asked."

"Great!" Danny snapped, "So now we have to go to a stupid non-existant army base, filled with government people _and_ alien robots."

"Danny, please! Just calm down." Callie said, trying to keep her own worry in check. Her cousin opened her mouth to say something, when the blonde cut her off, "What other choice do we have? I mean really? You've even admitted that you have no idea what to do."

Danny made a sour face, "We have never had good dealings with authority. How do we know they just won't off us the moment we step foot on their dumb base?"

Sideswipe actually looked insulted at her words, "Hey, we're not Decepticons man." He paused and shot a "No offence" to the seeker before continuing, "We're the good guys. We'll keep old bucket head away from you."

Giving the frontliner a dry look, the girl sighed, "Riiiiiight. Like I said, good is a relative term and besides, how do _I_ know you're a so called good guy?"

Pressing his servos dramatically to his chest plates, Sideswipe gasped sarcastically, "You wound me."

Danny opened her mouth to snap back, but a gentle hand on her shoulder stopped her. Glancing over her shoulder, Callie muttered, "We have to think of the others Danny. If this Megatron does find us, we will be defenceless against him." She turned her worried blue eyes to her cousin, "We really don't have much choice. It's either we take our chances on the road or we accept their help."

Danny sighed, turning her attention to look at Aleyah and then Liz. Mia still had Lucy tucked behind Thundercracker, not wanting the girl to see what was going on, but the car thief could practically see the worry on her face.

"Alright fine." She said bitterly, not liking to accept help to protect her family, "Call your leader and see if they can help us with this." She jerked her head to the two bodies behind her.

Sideswipe smirked, making the seeker uneasy, "I'll see what I can do."

()()()

Prowl finished explaining how they were going to search the city for the seeker and what they should watch for when dealing with an injured Decepticon, and the tactician was splitting the team into smaller crews when Optimus got a ping from Sideswipe.

His spark constricted in his chest in panic as he accepted the comm. allowing the frontliner to finally make contact with the rest of the unit for the first time since he left his twin.

:Go ahead Sideswipe.: Optimus said firmly, keeping his own worry and anger out of his voice. He needed to be as professional as possible when dealing with these kinds of situation.

:Well boss, I found Thundercracker.: Sideswipe began, and explained the situation to his commander.

All around Optimus the other warriors fell silent one by one at the look of first surprise then shock that over took the Autobot leaders face.

All eyes and optics on him, Optimus was silent as Sideswipe finished his nearly unbelievable story, :Sideswipe, can you run that by me one more time?:

()()()

**TBC...**


	11. Unexpected Aid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As of July 4th 2012, I have finally gotten all my stories moved over from Fanfiction. net to A03. So everything will be loaded on both sites :D
> 
> Thank you to my fabulous beta, Brighter Than The Sun, Sunny who gave the chapter its final polish. Great as always!
> 
> Also, thank you to Moonshae who commented on chapter 9. You made my day :D

**Important Information**

"Blah" Speaking

:Blah: comm. link

' _ **Blah'**_ bonded speech

'Blah' thinking

**Astrosecond** \- 2.5 earth Seconds

**Klik** \- 150 earth seconds/ 2.5 earth Minutes

**Orn** \- 150 earth minutes/ 2.5 earth Hours

**Joor** \- 60 earth hours/2.5 earth Days

**Metacycle** \- 17.5 earth days/2.5 earth Weeks

**Vorn** \- 10 earth weeks/2.5 earth months

**Stellercycle** -30 earth months/2.5 years

**Breem** -slang for a moment/minute.

**Night Cycle** : star down to star up

**Day Cycle** : Star up to star down

**Disclaimer** : I own only my OC's, nothing else.

()()()

Sitting on the edge of his berth, dumbfounded and shocked, Skywarp just stared at the wall. All he had come in there to do was get a little bit of rest before going to get Thundercracker. When the purple jet had come into his and his mate's quarters, the teleporter had been walking on air.

Joy just didn't seem like the right word to describe the feelings of absolute happiness that had filled the younger seeker. Jubilance maybe. Or perhaps pure exhilaration. Anticipation.

He had just been so damn happy at the time, just a few breems ago. Everything was going to turn out alright, the seeker had thought. TC would be coming home, he would make Starscream all better and smooth things over with Megaton.

Now, however? It felt as though he had been sucker punched in the gut by Wildrider. It felt as though all the hope had been drained out of his frame in a single swoop and he had lost Thundercracker all over again.

For a moment, Skywarp felt as helpless and hapless as any of the foolish Autobots he fought all the time. Tears of coolant stung his optics, his lower lip trembled and his vents hitched as the utter hopelessness of the situation crashed down on him. He was ready to bawl like a sparkling, just to eject the negative emotions that were bottled up in his frame.

It was just as his servos began to shake, that Skywarp clenched them into tight fists and forced his lip to firm. He blinked several times to push back the tears that threatened to fall and the seeker took a deep calming intake of air.

Enough was enough.

The purple seeker snarled quietly to himself as his resolve to get his mate back firmed. He was a Decepticon warrior damn it and Decepticon warriors didn't just mope around, waiting for their mates to come home.

Well, that was if he could admit that he had a mate at all, but that wasn't the point!

The point was Skywarp was going to get Thundercracker back, and nothing, not the Autobots or their human pets were going to stop him!

Oh he'd let those stupid Autobots take him, that would be no trouble. Let those soft sparked fools fix his Sweet Wings up and steal him back right from under their noses. That was the Decepticon way!

Wings hiking up high, a devious smirk spread over the purple jets face. Oh he'd get his mate back, and Primus have mercy on anyone foolish enough to get in his way.

No more moping. Skywarp prepared himself for what was to come.

()()()

Tension was high in the small garage that had trapped the two Cybertronians from opposing fractions, despite the seeker's promise to surrender. Thundercracker once again felt sick and weak as his strength began to seep from his frame in a rapid flow.

More warning signs that stasis lock was inevitable continued to bombard Thundercracker's HUD, all of which he brushed aside and ignored; he had managed to manoeuvre his damaged frame into sitting up and leaning against the concrete wall of the garage. He could do no more than lean weakly against the wall though, completely at the mercy of the Autobot, something that was very disconcerting to the Decepticon.

Onlining his optic, the seeker looked at the frontliner, who had not relaxed at all and was still crouched, servo on his weapon, "Is Ratchet with Prime?"

Narrowing healthy blue optics on the Decepticon, Sideswipe managed a shrug, "No idea. I never made it back to the rest of the team."

Giving the Autobot a half nod, Thundercracker let his optic offline again, it was too much energy to keep it online any more. His energy was depleting far quicker than he had suspected and he wondered if drinking the diesel had done worse for him in the long run then he previously thought.

Sitting on the bench by his knee, Callie gave her seeker a worried look. He was getting worse, much worse than he was letting on. The fact that he offlined his optic with the Autobot so close worried the blonde more than anything else.

Callie looked up at Sideswipe, who was looking on edge and knew he wouldn't help Thundercracker; there was simply too much bad blood between the two.

Turning her head to look up the stairs, Callie watched Aleyah, Liz, Mia and Lucy; the burgundy haired girl had dragged the smaller blonde up the stairs the moment it was safe to do so and away from what she thought was the new threat. Lucy had been less than pleased and fought her cousin all the way up the stairs while demanding to be left with TC.

The nine year old had been strong armed into staying up on the landing, where she could see the seeker, but not close enough to touch. Callie knew her cousins meant well, but the blonde doubted that Thundercracker was going to hurt Lucy. If he had wanted to hurt her, he'd have done it by now, Decepticon or not.

However, she did suppose that she needed to let her over protective cousins win this one. After all, if the roles had been reversed, she would have reacted the same and wanted to keep them away from what seemed like a threat. She would just have to prove to them that Thundercracker wasn't as dangerous to them in the way they thought.

Turning her attention to Danny, Callie managed a sigh. The car thief was pacing the garage having too much energy and too worried to allow herself to sit and relax while they waited for more Autobots to arrive.

She'd make it to the far wall of the garage, do an about face and march all the way to Sideswipe's knee before turning around and doing it all over. Her hands continued to clench and unclench into fists in her irritation as she muttered darkly under her breath, "This is so much worse than Orlando." she spat at Callie.

The blonde sighed, but didn't back down, "No. No its not."

Danny snorted as she reached the wall again and spun back around, "Oh, but it really is."

Callie sighed again, refusing to rise to the bait Danny was literally shoving at her. Throwing a concerned look at Thundercracker, Callie straightened up, making herself look taller, "Listen Danny. TC's hurt." this time Sideswipe shot the small human a confused look, "Can you just take a look at his wound until the Autobots get here?"

Sideswipe sputtered from the other side of the garage as Danny paused to look at her blonde cousin, "Are you _kidding_ me?"

"He's hurt." Callie said firmly.

The other female blinked at Callie and snapped, "He's trying to take over our world."

"He saved our lives." Callie responded firmly, logically.

"Eh" Danny paused, giving her cousin a shrewd look through narrowed brown eyes, "Oh alright, fine."

Danny sighed, her slim shoulders dropping, "Fine. I'll see what I can do, and it's only because he saved you. If he hadn't, I'd let him bleed out."

The burgundy haired girl broke her route and stomped over to the seeker. With a sharp jerking movement of her head, Danny signalled for her cousin to get off the work bench.

The blonde hopped off said bench and helped Danny shove the wooden table closer to Thundercracker's damaged side. From behind them, Sideswipe sputtered again, "Are you two out of your fragging minds! Get over here!"

Promptly ignoring the frontliner, Callie turned to face her cousin, "You'll need to wear gloves, thick gloves. The pink stuff is called energon and it's hot enough to blister skin."

Danny nodded and disappeared behind the ruined Shelby. When she re-emerged she was slipping on a pair of heavy bulky gloves, "My welding gloves should work right?"

Callie gave a nod and climbed up into the table, helping Danny up. Looking up at the half out-of-it seeker, the blonde called gently, "Hey TC. Danny's going to take a look alright?"

Onlining his optic, Callie was disheartened to see how pale the light had become, almost a pink instead of the ruby red it should have been, "Alright." he mumbled as his optic slipped offline again.

Shooting a worried look to her annoyed cousin, Callie carefully stepped onto the seeker's thigh. Danny followed suit after a moment of hesitation, seemingly over her previous shock, and followed Callie along the metal thigh to dull, dirty, white hips.

Danny looked up, the top of her head barley coming to the bottom edge of the wound. Sighing again, she grabbed on to the edge of the wound causing the seeker's optic to snap online and hiss at the sudden pain.

His long, blunt fingers dug into the concrete beneath his servos and he forced himself to stay still.

"Danny!" Callie hissed as her cousin pulled herself up onto his hip, carefully climbing along the panels that made up Thundercracker's abdominal armour.

"Get down from there before you get hurt." Sideswipe snapped from behind, awkwardly shuffling forward, moving closer to the seeker.

Danny ignored both the frontliner and her cousin as she came to crouch on the damaged panel in Thundercracker's side. She knew it had to hurt and the girl tried her best not to move around on the lip of the wound as her feet pressed hard into the metal.

She used one hand to balance herself, bracing on the undamaged armour of the seekers abdomen. Looking into the damage with a mechanics eye, Danny winced, "I'm sorry but this is the only way to get a _proper_ look. Now then, there's a lot of damage here. What hit him?"

"A rocket." Sideswipe said firmly, narrowing blue optics on the girl, "Now get down."

"Please do." Thundercracker agreed, tightening his servos into the ground, churning up the concrete as he dug into the ground.

Again Danny ignored the two Cybertronians and carefully reached inside the wound, eliciting another hiss of pain from the seeker. The car thief held herself still on the edge of the damage, knowing that it hurt the seeker where she was crouched, but there was not nearly enough room in the garage to have him stretch out on the ground.

Danny was sympathetic to his pain and felt bad for increasing it, but if she could help him in some way he could suck it up for a few minutes. It was a hard mind set, but it was what got Danny and her family through their darkest moments.

"I'm not a science experiment!" Thundercracker snapped at the human as she gave another gentle tug on an energon line.

Danny glanced up at him with a small frown before turning her attention back to the wound. Moving her hand around as gently as she could, Danny examined the different wires and tubes within the seeker's body, "Sorry, but I need to see the extent of the damage. Just bare with me."

Gritting his dental plate, the seeker managed to hiss, "I'll bare you into a wall flesh bag."

Danny rolled her brown eyes, "Oh yeah. He's a real charmer here Callie. Be still my beating heart."

Thundercracker hissed again as she gave a hard tug on an energon line, causing the blonde to sigh, "Can you stop harassing him and just see if you can fix him?"

Danny didn't bother to respond to her cousin's snark, instead saying, "There's really not much I can do. The lines are all closed off, but I can't weld or solder any of them."

She gave a soft sigh before continuing, "The energon lines are made of a meshy material and they all need to be replaced." The car thief paused and poked her small head a little further into the wound, her hand probing along the line in her hand, "A lot of lines and wires will need to be replaced. This energon stuff looks like it's pretty acidic and has eaten away at some of the thinner wires."

Frowning, Danny gave the energon line in her hand an experimental squeeze and a glob of gelatinized energon came out into her gloved hand, causing the seeker to grunt.

"Eww." Danny groaned as she flicked the glob to the ground, "A lot of the energon that is passed the clamp is pretty globed up. Almost like its coagulated, or something."

The car thief let herself drop away from the wound and land hard on a dull blue thigh, "There's nothing I can do for him. I don't have nearly the right material to patch those hoses properly and get energon flowing well again."

Callie gave her cousin such a sad look that it made Danny's resolve waiver, "I'm serious Cal. I could seriously hurt him. I have no idea how human materials will react in his body, just like you had no idea how those clamps could have reacted. Using those clamps, although ingenious, it was a dangerous thing to do. I put the wrong material in, it could kill him for all I know."

The blonde's shoulders dropped in disappointment. She had been so sure Danny, mechanically inclined Danny, could have done something to help, "What about patching it until the Autobots get here. Get energon flowing again. It can't be healthy to have those lines clamped shut for so long."

Sideswipe stared in disbelieve at the blonde, coming to the conclusion she was a complete nutter; absolutely, positively crazy. She had to be, why else would she care about a 'Con?

The red frontliner looked up at the seeker, trying to see him from Callie's perspective as Danny began to waiver; the Autobot saw the damage, the pain the other was in. Could practically feel the others weakness and knew in the deepest part of his spark that if the roles were reversed, Thundercracker would have taken advantage.

"Well." Danny started, looking at the wound. "I don't know. I don't know if I even have a patch that would work."

"What about a tire patch?" Callie suggested.

As Sideswipe continued to examine the seeker, Danny shook her head no, "A tire patch is like a solid cylinder of rubber that you use a hook to jam into the hole. These are more like tares or gashes. Something like a," Danny paused thinking about what might work, "a pool liner patch might work. Something that could be physically wrapped all the way around the tubing."

The frontliner's helm canted to the side as he continued to watch the seeker as his optic dimmed again; Thundercracker was so weak, it was almost pathetic. Then again, he had been on the run, with that kind of damage, and no medical treatment or energon for four days now. So who was really the weak one?

Of course, the frontliner could also remember more than one occasion when the very seeker in front of him, who was slowly bleeding out, had killed his Autobot comrades in cold energon.

Yet, Sideswipe had done the very same to Decepticon's more times than he could count. So did that make them even? The frontliner had no idea, but he knew that Optimus was always preaching about trying to reach out to the enemy, that they were really the same as the Autobots.

That if peace could be found, that they should always try to reach for it, not destroy it.

Optimus would have helped the seeker simply because it was 'the right thing to do'. Pit, even Ironhide would have helped the enemy for one, because it would make their leader happy and for two, there was no honour in killing an injured enemy.

Huffing a sigh, and irritated at his moral debate, Sideswipe made his decision.

"If we open those lines and let the energon flow again, how do we know that the gelatinized energon won't kill him? We could be doing more harm than good." Danny sighed, looking torn between wanting to help and not wanting to cause damage.

The frontliner sighed, tipped his helm down to look at the humans, "Get down." Callie opened her mouth as though to argue, but Sideswipe cut her off, "No. Just get down, you're in the way."

The two shared a look and hesitantly got down; Sideswipe watched them jump from the seeker's grey-blue thigh and moved to make room for the Lamborghini.

He watched the pair for a moment, just slightly disturbed by them. They looked like they belonged in a mall, not wheeling guns and killing with cold precision. From his peripheral vision, Sideswipe could see the two bodies covered by a tarp and it bothered him in some way. Sure he had _heard_ about civilians killing each other, but it was quiet another to see it.

Perhaps it was their compete lack of attention or worry to the corpses that bothered him. They all, even the small one that wanted to stay with the seeker, Lucy, didn't seem overly bothered or weepy of what had transpired.

The ones called Mia, Aleyah, and Liz also acted as though nothing was out of the norm, sitting at the top of the stairs and waiting for instructions from the older two. It was then Sideswipe made the connection to wolves; Callie and Danny were like the alpha femmes and the others would follow their leaders. So long as the leaders didn't panic, neither would they.

The fact that they were tiny human femmes also bothered the frontliner; the femmes from Cyberton were all tough, they had to be. Deadly really, but the frontliner had never seen human femmes in the same light as Cybertronian femmes.

After that little display of carnage, he did now.

"What?" Danny suddenly asked, watching the frontliner, staring off into space.

Giving himself a hard shake, Sideswipe shrugged, "Nothing." and pulled a small med kit form his sub space, placing it carefully on the ground. The frontliner could only do the most basic of repairs, but patching lines was easy enough. It might even prevent the seeker from falling into stasis long enough for the rest of the crew to arrive.

"No, you were staring into space. Why?"

Peering into the wound, the frontliner shrugged, "Curious."

"About what?" Danny snapped at the larger being.

Shooting the girl a hard glare, the Autobot addressed the Decepticon, "This family's a little fragged in the head, aren't they?"

As the frontliner carefully pulled a patch from his kit, Thundercracker snorted, "Callie and Lucy are a little. You, however, have only had to deal with them for the past two hours. I have had to deal with those two for the last four days, so you can stop your whining at any time."

Callie tossed the seeker an annoyed look, "I can hear you, you know."

Giving a little grimace as Sideswipe first milked more of the gelatinized energon from the hose, then wrapped a patch around the damaged line, sealing it closed, Thundercracker said "Yes well. It's not like you've - _ow_ -ever said aggravating things to me."

Rolling her blue eyes, Callie sighed, "Whatever."

Turning his attention back to the Autobot as he reached for another patch, the seeker gave Sideswipe a suspicious look. He was fighting to keep his optic online, not trusting enough to let his guard down anymore than he already had, "You couldn't have done this prior to the car thief-twit climbing all over the slagging wound?"

Sideswipe gave a little smirk as he pressed another patch onto another bit of tubing after milking gelatinized energon from the hose.

Danny protested with an angry "Hey!" at the seeker's annoyed words.

Taking a leaf from the human's book, both the Decepticon and the Autobot ignored the human, "I could have, but where would the fun in that be?"

The seeker growled as Sideswipe carefully milked even more gelatinized energon from the lines that he had yet to patch, using two digits to press the gunk from the lines, "Why are you helping me?"

It wasn't a demand or an order, and to Sideswipe, Thundercracker sounded very, very tired. It was a neutral question the Autobot wasn't entirely sure how to answer, one he wasn't sure he knew the answer to.

"I dunno. I'm a soft sparked Autobot?" he said sarcastically instead of not answering at all.

Thundercracker managed a snort as his optic drifted offline again, "There are a lot of words that could describe you Sideswipe. Soft sparked, is not one of them."

Careful watching the wound, Sideswipe shrugged, "Yeah well, we all have our moments."

The seeker gave a soft grunt of agreement, but the light from his optic didn't come back on. Callie bit her lip in worry, "Is he going to be okay?"

The concern in her voice made Sideswipe relax just a little more, convincing the frontliner that he was doing the right thing, "I don't know. But Ratchet can fix him." there was such firm believe and blind faith in the medic, that Callie couldn't help but nod in agreement, despite not knowing who Ratchet was.

The frontliner looked back up to the seekers face and he sighed. If Thundercracker fell into stasis now, a great amount of damage could be done to his processor and systems. Even though it was a safety measure to protect the spark, stasis was never a good thing. A black servo slapped against a blue thigh and Sideswipe's hard voice bit out, "Hey wake up!" a pinky red optic blinked on, "This is your fault you know."

Thundercracker frowned at the frontliner, his optic dull and confused, while Callie scowled up at the Autobot, "Oh would you just leave him alone!"

Sideswipe dropped his blue optics to the blonde with a frown, "We need to keep him awake, it's not good if he falls into stasis. Besides some sort of confrontation, I don't know any other way to keep him talking."

Thundercracker blinked at the Autobot, trying to keep up with the quick words. His processor felt muddled and sluggish.

Below him, Callie sighed and nodded, taking a step back, involuntarily showing a margin of trust that Sideswipe was determined to keep. 'Crazy slag,' he thought to himself as he turned his attention back to the damaged seeker, "I said this is your own fault Thundercracker."

The once proud jet narrowed his optic in on the lamboformer, concentrating on Sideswipe's slowly spoken words, eventually figuring it out. A scowl twisted Thundercracker's face and he faintly snarled at the crimson Autobot, "How is this my fault?"

The words were spoken slowly, weakly and a sign that the Decepticon was getting worse, "Well, you got yourself captured."

It took another moment for the jet to realize what Sideswipe had said, and for a moment his optic brightened back to its bright ruby red before fading back into pale pink. It was a sure sign of how frail he had become, "Didn't get captured."

Sideswipe fought the grin at the sulk that had come from the seeker and was surprised by the fact that he didn't completely hate talking to Thundercracker. Of course it might be a very different story once he was healed and angry again, but the Autobot would take this easy, if not weak banter for now, "Well you certainly look as though you've been captured. By two human femmes no less."

Thundercracker snorted, "They agreed to take me cross-country..." his voice trailed off as his helm dipped and his optic off lined again.

Sideswipe frowned and slapped at the seekers thigh again, "Hey come on now. No sleeping. The girls took you cross-country and what?"

The pink optic popped back on, "I protected them."

"How'd you protect them?" Sideswipe questioned, genuinely curious.

An annoyed chirr left the seeker, and it was a noise that surprised Sideswipe to hear, "Blew up bad men. They tried to hurt Callie. So I blew them up."

He was repeating himself and that worried Sideswipe. From experience he knew that verbal repetition was the processor trying desperately to stay online, fighting off stasis lock and it was then the frontliner realized how much energon the seeker had lost.

"You would have done the same Autobot." Thundercracker said suddenly, weakly, "If you had been there, you would have done the same."

Sideswipe paused for a moment, considering what he now knew, "Yeah. I'm sure I would have. Would've pissed Optimus off for sure, but I'm sure I wouldn't have let them be hurt."

The seeker snorted, "Prime is weak. Too soft sparked."

"Yeah well, it's his soft spark that's going to save your life." The frontliner shrugged, un-offended.

"I would have killed you." The jet said suddenly, softly, forcing himself to focus on the bright crimson paint.

Sideswipe shrugged, "I know. But I'm not you."

As his optic began to cycle down again, Thundercracker earned himself another slap to the leg from

Sideswipe, "Doesn't make you better." The seeker muttered, trying hard to wake up.

"Never said it did. But I don't see the point in destroying an enemy who's already got a pede in the Well of Sparks."

Thundercracker grunted, pausing for a moment, "You should have been a Decepticon Sideswipe. You have way more attributes for one of us anyways. You and your crazy brother."

The frontliner gave the Decepticon a wry grin, having heard the same thing from several Autobots before. In the end, however, the only ones whose opinion mattered was Prowl, Ratchet and Prime's, and they all trusted him and his twin. The rest of the army could, as the humans say, suck it.

The seeker took Sideswipe's silence as a sign to continue, "You'll kill to protect what's yours. Regardless of who or what it is that's threatening."

Frowning slightly, Sideswipe shrugged as he continued to work, "I guess so, sure."

"Then when I get shipped back to the Nemesis, _you'll_ take care of them." The seeker exclaimed as he examined the Autobot, forcing himself to focus.

"What! No, I'm not getting stuck babysitting a bunch of fleshlings." The crimson lambo snapped, refusing to acknowledge the angry protests from the humans.

Optic dimming, Thundercracker fought to stay conscious and the logical part of his processor screamed that this was a terrible idea, "Listen, despite all of this," and the seeker pointed to the corpses behind them, "They still need protection."

More protests of 'We can take care of ourselves.' were promptly ignored and Thundercracker reached out to grab Sideswipe's arm. He needed to protect the sparkling, Lucy, no matter what and his pride be damned, "Megatron will find out about them, it's only a matter of time. They are far too soft and squishy to protect themselves. So you'll do it.

"What! Why me?" Sideswipe asked stunned, his blue optics drifting to a very shocked Callie, then back up to the seekers damaged face.

Thundercracker snorted, "I'm not happy about this either, but you're the only one here."

Optic drifting closed again, Thundercracker slumped forward slightly, nearly falling into the frontliner. Grabbing at damaged shoulder vents, forcing the seeker upright, Sideswipe sighed, desperately wishing that Optimus was there. Let him deal with the half dead seeker, "Come on Thundercracker. Wake up."

Groaning, the seeker forced his optics online to glare at the frontliner, "What?" he snapped.

Sideswipe sighed again, grasping for patience, "You need to stay awake until Ratchet gets here. Just a little longer."

The seeker snarled again, but fought a little harder to keep his optic online, "Will you do it?"

"Hey! Wait, why do you have to go back to the Nemesis?" Callie asked, drawing the attention back to her. On the bright side, it gave something else for the seeker to focus on.

"And do what, stay an Autobot prisoner?" Thundercracker snarled at her, his systems taxing themselves as he struggled to stay online.

"Why not become an Autobot?" Callie asked naively. Really, she should have known better than to ask such a question. Should have known her guardian better than that, remembered what the Autobots had done to him under the rule of Sentinel Prime, remembering that the hurt had never gone away and had only been drowned out with violence and hate.

Callie winced at her own words as soon as they came out, wishing she could take them back. She knew her mistake however, even before the Decepticon hissed angrily at her, sending a dark glower her way.

She winced a little and took a step back with her hands up, "Okay yeah. That's kind of a dumb idea. But going back to the Nemesis? That's no plan either." she snapped back, almost desperate.

Sideswipe could feel the seeker's body heating up as he forced his frame to keep functioning at such a high performance level. The heat alone could cause him to crash and fall into stasis.

The crimson mech shoved the seeker back against the wall hard enough to keep him there; Thundercracker was left panting and glaring at his charge, thoroughly insulted, "I don't know. But I am not going to be an Autobot!"

The blonde's face crumpled a little, saddened by the fact that she would be separated from her guardian, left in the care of his enemies. Thundercracker was too sick, too exhausted to bring himself to feel guilty about it.

"There has to be a way." Callie said firmly, refusing to believe that she was going to be left alone with the Autobots.

Thundercracker sighed, fighting to keep his optic online, "There is none, and I doubt that my trine would come either."

Sideswipe shuttered at the thought of Starscream strutting around the Ark. No doubt he would act like he owned the base, would parade around with that cocky smirk of his, making outrages demands. He didn't know how Thundercracker could stand the glitch, never mind be connected to him in any way, shape or form.

In any case, Sideswipe needed to change the subject. All the talk about 'becoming an Autobot' was stressing the seeker out and over taxing his already shaky systems.

Danny provided a small distraction, a change of discussion that Sideswipe was grateful for despite it being one that wouldn't last long though, "How come he's so weak now? He was better not all that long ago."

The crimson mech shrugged a shoulder, glancing back at the seeker's wound, reaching inside to remove the human clips, "He's been stressing his systems for days now. On the run with this kind of damage, no energon and no medical attention. Then the little laser show out on I-15 drained even more of his little reserves and then all the posturing when I got here."

Another pause as Sideswipe tossed the burned, warped clamp to the ground, "It added up very quickly. I'm surprised though, that he hasn't fallen into stasis lock."

"I've been giving him diesel." Callie muttered, worried eyes on her seeker as his optics dimmed again.

Sideswipe nodded with a wince, "Yeah, that'd do it. Gonna suck doing the flush though."

Danny frowned, "Why?"

"It's kind of like putting gas in a diesel engine. It's not good." The frontliner shrugged.

Thundercracker's optic offlined again as he lost the battle with staying awake again, earning yet another slap from the frontliner. Everyone fell silent as they watched the seeker struggle back to consciousness, and Sideswipe knew he needed to give Thundercracker something else to focus on.

"Sooo, what's with the gun slinging?" he asked suddenly, awkwardly, tipping his obsidian helm to the humans.

Relaxing against the wall, Thundercracker narrowed his pink optic on the humans, "A good question."

Callie allowed the change in topic, seeing how the seeker had calmed, "What do you mean, 'gun slinging?'"

"What I mean is," Thundercracker hissed, "why did you panic out on I-15, and yet here you killed two men in cold blood."

"Oh. That. Well, really I only killed one of them, and it was self-defense." The blonde shrugged, her burgundy haired cousin nodding beside her.

The two Cybertronions gave the humans flat looks, so Callie went on, "Besides. I had Danny here to back me up."

"And guns." Danny added with an easy shrug of her own, "Things like that are game changers."

"Exactly." Callie said, "Besides I was on my home turf. So. You know, it was easier to protect myself."

"And I did tell you to take the 12-guage with you when you were headed out to Nebraska." Danny said,

shooting her cousin an annoyed look.

Blue eyes rolled, and Callie heaved another sigh, "Yeah I know. Whatever. It's done and over with. TC blew up a couple of douche bags, let's all get over it."

She gave a dismissive wave of her tanned hand, "Besides, these guys tried to kill me first. Self-defense."

"Didn't think you knew how to use a gun." the seeker responded in a sulky tone and a flash of hurt that worried both the frontliner and Callie. It was very out of character for Thundercracker to sulk like that.

The seeker was spiralling towards stasis faster than Sideswipe would have liked.

As for Callie, she just didn't like seeing Thundercracker hurt in any aspect. She also didn't like how quickly she had become attached to him in such a short amount of time. She and her family usually couldn't afford to have connections like this. Perhaps, it was because he was so much bigger and stronger than any of her species, yet seemed kind to her, that she trusted him.

He wouldn't be killed so easily by another human.

Danny snorted, pulling Callie from her thoughts, "We were thieves and smugglers. Of course we know how to use guns. We just never started the fight."

Callie tossed a cold look over her shoulder, glancing at the two corpses with little interest, "We can certainly end it though."

Thundercracker muttered something unintelligible as he fought to stay awake, warning systems screaming at him that his shut down was imminent.

The crimson Autobot sighed and slapped at the seekers thigh again, "Come on Thundercracker. You need to stay awake."

Again, the jet murmured incoherently, causing the others in the room to share worried looks.

It was another twenty stressful minutes of a combined effort of Sideswipe, Danny and Callie talking to Thundercracker to keep him from falling into stasis, to keep his processor occupied, before anyone new made it to the garage.

In that short time Thundercracker had gone from being able to make complete sentences and thoughts to barley articulating half a thought. His mumblings had become quieter, more erratic and less coherent before the sounds of tires crunching over the gravel outside could be heard.

The new noise had everyone inside the confined space tensing, thinking back to the shoot out that occurred the last time that noise was heard.

Sideswipe could see how both Danny and Callie twitched towards the weapons on the work bench, and only firm will kept them in place, their eyes glued to the small human door.

Even Thundercracker froze beside the Autobot frontliner, despite his half dazed state and his growing weakness. _He_ twitched towards Callie as though to shield her should more bullets come flying through the windows and doors.

Aleyah sighed and peeled herself away from Mia and Liz, "Well if no one else will check."

She slowly sauntered back to the window on the upper floor and peered outside. With a nervous laugh she called out, "Well I think the Autobots are here."

"How can you be sure?" Danny called back up.

Still looking out the window, Aleyah grinned, "There are two army trucks, a race car, a Porsche, a cop car, an ugly ass vanette, an ambulance, a jeep, another lambo aaaaand an eighteen wheeler." the black haired girl paused to look over her shoulder at Sideswipe, "That sound like your friends?"

Smirking back at her, the frontliner said with pride coloring his tone, "That's them."

Thundercracker sighed, settling back against the wall, "Wonderful." the seeker muttered sarcastically, still unsure if this was a good idea but he was so, so tired. He just wanted to sleep, drop off into recharge and wake up warm on his berth back on the Nemesis. With Skywarp curled into his side, happy, safe and content. Starscream would be curled into his other side, taking comfort in the trine bonds, safe and healing from whatever Megatron had done to him.

Callie and her crazy family would be in another room, safe from the war and the damned Autobots. That would be nice, perfect really for the seeker. A perfect end to this foolish adventure.

The blue jet allowed the dream to sweep through him, allowed it to drag him down and let the warm feeling spread thoughout his frame. He didn't take into consideration it was numbness that spread throughout his frame that was making it seem as though he was warm.

A sharp slap to his thigh snapped Thundercracker back to the cold reality of the here and now, "Don't crash on us yet." The frontliner said gruffly.

The seeker snarled at him, but fought a little harder to keep his optic online.

From the second floor, Aleyah whistled when they heard two car doors opening and gravel crunching under small human feet, turning her head to grin at Liz and Mia, "Mia you need to come here. That guy out there, totally hot."

Danny and Callie both shot hot, angry looks to the dark haired girl. The blonde shook her head, blue eyes narrowing, "Aleyah, we are surrounded by aliens and soldiers. We just killed two men and that will be found by said soldiers. Now is not the time to be thinking about nookie."

Despite Callie's angry words, Mia untangled herself from Liz and Lucy and quickly walked to the small window. As Mia pushed her sister out of her way to look out the window, Aleyah turned her attention back to her cousin, "Well, if we're going to die, might as well look at something pretty."

"Or ruggedly handsome." Mia chimed in, grinning as she looked at the unseen human, "He's like a Tyrese Gibson kind of guy. All tall, dark and handsome."

"And muscles." Aleyah said smirking, trying to push Mia out of the way to get a better eye full.

Danny sighed, rubbing at her dark eyes. Callie pinned the other girl with a hard stare, "They're your sisters."

"Why is it whenever they do something dumb, they're suddenly my sisters and not your cousins."

Callie shrugged, watching the door wearily now, "Because then, it's your fault."

Danny sighed again, shifting her attention back to the door, "So, Sideswipe."

"Yeah?"

"Your friends. They aren't going to shoot us. Right?"

The frontliner looked down at the human femme with a frown, a sarcastic remark on his glossa. The remark died in his throat however when he could literally smell the waves of fear rolling off the girl.

Not even when she crouched behind the door, waiting to attack a human, to kill in cold blood had Danny been this fearful. He glanced at Callie as well, noticing that like Danny, she held her small body too stiff.

Too tense and ready to attack should the need arise. He could practically see the cogs turning as they calculated the distance between them and the weapons on the work bench.

They were expecting to be attacked, Sideswipe realized a little disheartened. What in the Pits had these girls gone through to think they would be attacked unprovoked?

The frontliner glanced at the two bodies still in the room that had seemingly been forgotten at the moment before looking back to the femmes. Killing wasn't easy. Even he still got nightmares from time to time of battles gone wrong, of the death and carnage he and Sunstreaker had spread throughout the battle field.

These girls had made it look as easy as he could, they hadn't even flinched. Like veteran soldiers.

Venting a hard sigh, Sideswipe looked at Danny, "I promise, you'll be fine. You'll be safe with us, no one will hurt you."

Danny snorted and crossed her arms over her belly, fingers tracing the scar there, "Wouldn't be the first time someone promised that."

Sighing softly, Thundercracker managed to pull it together enough to get a coherent sentence out, "He's right. Autobots are too soft sparked and stupid to do much else."

Frowning at the seeker with a mixture of aggravation and dark amusement, Sideswipe couldn't help but add, "If it wasn't for our 'soft spark' tendencies, you'd be deactivated Thundercracker, and we would take your little humans in for treason for aiding you."

That earned the frontliner a weak glare from the Decepticon. Sideswipe's frown melted into a smirk, "I'm just saying."

As Thundercracker's optic fell off line again, a knock at the door caused the humans to flinch, sounding far too loud to truly be the actual noise. The adrenalin that coursed through their veins making the lights seem brighter and noise louder.

Mia jumped from the window, nearly running to the stair case, "I'll get it!" she said happily as Aleyah continued to watch from the window.

"Stop!" Callie's voice snapped out, halting the excited girls movement before she came running down the stairs.

Another knock, more persistent, "I'll get it. Stay there." Danny snapped at her now pouting sister. Mia had been so excited to finally be helpful in the current situation, that she was more than a little put out that her sister and cousin had striped her of her chance. Well, that and she wanted a closer look at tall dark and handsome. After all if she was going to die, might as well get a good look at someone good looking.

The car thief shot her cousin a worried look before moving to the door; Callie took a few steps back towards Thundercracker, not liking the fact that is someone wanted to hurt him there was precious little she could do to stop it.

Despite Sideswipe's assurance that no one would hurt them, Danny was worried to. It was evident in her stiff movement to the door, not entirely sure if the Autobots could be trusted.

Danny came to the door and forced her body to loosen, look relaxed, despite her worry of the unknown.

Her stomach was in knots with worry, feeling like snakes where curling in her gut. She half wondered if she opened the door if someone was going to just shoot her and be done with it. Well, if she was met with the barrel of a gun, they'd surely have a fight on their hands and if she survived, she was going to strip Sideswipe of his armor and sell it on e-bay. Then disappear from L.A.

Taking a deep, calming breath as the song 'Stronger' by Kanye West played in her head, Danny opened the door.

Two tall, hard looking men looked down at her and for a moment they just stared at each other, sizing the other up.

Danny plastered a smile on her face, hoping it didn't seemed forced, "How can I help you?" she asked lightly.

The two men, dressed all in black and bullet proof vests shared a look, and Danny could see their guns poking out from their coats. She forced herself not to react, smiling as brightly as she could at the pair of them.

The first man, who was tall with dark thick hair and tanned white skin, narrowed his hazel eyes on her, "We're here to pick up some friends. We were told this was where they were."

Before she could stop herself, Danny narrowed her own dark eyes at them. She needed to be sure they were on the level, that these were indeed Sideswipe's friends and that they were not going to kill her.

Too much weird shit had been going on that day for Danny not to be cautious, despite the Autobots assurances.

She leaned against the door jam, forcing her body to relax and seem at ease as she pushed her chest out, a potential distraction if need be, "Sorry, no one around here that could be your friends."

The other man, tall with smooth black skin glared down at Danny, "Listen girl, we don't have time for your games. Where are they?" His voice was hard and demanding, leaving no room for argument.

Danny feigned ignorance, "Sorry, don't know who you're talking about." she said calmly, firmly.

From inside the garage Sideswipe rolled his blue optics. Now was not the time for a pissing contest between the car thief and the two commanding officers. Thundercracker was too damaged to wait for help and with so many Autobots in the area, it was sure to attract Decepticon attention.

"It's okay Danny. It's just Epps and Lennox. They're on our side." Sideswipe called out to her.

The crimson frontliner could practically see the smug look from his two human friends and see Danny rolling her brown eyes in aggravation.

"They're alright Danny, I'll vouch for them." the Autobot called out, hoping to calm the femme.

Danny heaved a sigh and pushed away from the door, "Fine. But if they even think about reaching for those guns, I'll ram them down their throats. Then pull your armour off, piece by piece Sideswipe."

For a moment the frontliner thought she was kidding, until he saw the look on her face, the same look she had when she killed the two men and knew that somehow, she'd find a way to do it to.

As the car thief backed away from the door, Robert Epps and William Lennox pushed their way in, their bodies tense as they stepped through the thresh hold of the building. Sideswipe had given the barest of details on the seekers condition and neither were truly prepared for the pitiful state the Decepticon was in.

Having backed into the garage, not trusting enough to turn her back on the human males, Danny leveled a glare at them, waiting for them to make the move that would dictate how the rest of this little event would play out. The car thief hoped that they played nice, they already had two bodies to get rid of and Danny knew that they could help her do that in a way street thugs couldn't.

Epps looked over Thundercracker's damaged frame, yet to notice the tarp that hid the bodies, and whistled lowly, "Damn 'Sides. You never said the punk was this badly hurt."

Pale pink light weakly flickered to life to regard the Nest solider with exhausted disinterest. The blue seeker snorted and allowed his optic to slip offline again, grunting in a mild acknowledgment of the human's words. Epps frowned, his dark brow furrowed in confusion, "Is he goanna make it?"

Callie bristled from her close position by the Decepticon, her small tanned hands curled into firsts, "He will if we stop wasting time." she hissed, her dark blue eyes narrowed and defiant. So long as he couldn't defend himself, Thundercracker was Callie's responsibility or so she thought.

He took care of her, saved her when she needed to be saved, when she had no one else to do so, and she would do the same for him, consequences be damned. The blonde however, was no fool and knew that the seeker needed help, medical help. The sooner the better.

Dark hands came up in surrender as Epps gave the blonde a wide toothy grin, "Easy. We'll get him help."

As Callie snorted in response, she refused to look away from the Nest solider in a form of submission; Danny levelled a glare at William Lennox, "So. Work with aliens huh?"

Turning his unreadable hazel eyes to her, Lennox nodded once, his face hard and set in a slight frown, "I do." he paused for a moment, glancing at Sideswipe, before adding, "You steal them often?"

Danny's glare morphed into a smirk, "Only when they're pretty and red."

The Nest commander managed to smirk at her, still too worried and partly angry with the frontliner behind her to really interact with the girl before his smirk faded back to a serious frown, "Careful. We don't need his ego to be any bigger." Sideswipe shot a glare to the human commander which Lennox ignored, focusing on the car thief with a sigh. He extended his hand to her, "I'm William Lennox, and this is my second, Robert Epps."

Danny hesitated for a moment, her dark eyes narrowed in on the man in front of her, scrutinizing his honesty. Eventually her smaller, pale hand reached out to take Lennox's hand, wrapping her long fingers around his thick hand, squeezing just enough to be friendly. Lennox returned the squeeze, hoping it was reassuring as Danny said, "Danny. My cousins Callie and Lucy, they're the ones who found Thundercracker, and my sisters, Mia, Aleyah and Liz."

The car thief nodded to each person she named them; she released the commanders hand, crossing her arms under her chest, waiting for the commander to continue.

"Just first names?" Lennox asked lightly, hoping to put the girls at ease. It was why Optimus had suggested that he and Epps come in and speak with them first, try to calm them if need be. He just hadn't expected the open hostility from them when they walked in the door and the odd protectiveness from Callie over Thundercracker.

Optimus would be glad to hear of it, the human had no doubt about that. The Autobot leader was always hoping that the Decepticon's could be reasoned with, or at the very least some of the less hostile ones.

Although if he was truly honest with himself, Lennox highly doubted that would ever happen, and if it did he didn't think it would have been a seeker. Not with Starscream as Megatron's second.

Shifting her weight, a sign of worry, Danny glanced to the side and Lennox followed her gaze. He felt his eyebrow rise at the weapons on the work bench and the tarp on the ground. There was no doubt what was under that tarp. He hadn't been quite ready to believe Sideswipe's story completely.

"McCormick." Danny gave a small shrug, glancing to Callie, who was stiff and obviously protective beside Thundercracker, "So what happens now?"

"Optimus wants to talk to you and Ratchet wants to take a look at the Decepticon." Lennox informed her, his arms hung loosely by his sides, hazel eyes locked on the tarp. "They're just outside, ready when you are."

From behind Danny, Callie made a loud, displeased noise that drew Lennox's attention to her pretty, yet annoyed looking face, "His name is Thundercracker."She snapped, arms crossed defiantly as though she dared him to say anything else that might offend the Decepticon.

More than slightly taken aback at her protective tone, Lennox tried to offer a tight smile, "Of course. Thundercracker."

Rolling brown eyes, Danny heaved a sigh, "Whatever you two. Fight a little more why don't you. I'm going to open the door and see this shit show finish."

Callie never took her eyes from Lennox, her arms crossed, her face scrunched in annoyance and anger. Lennox met her glare with his own; his hazel eyes staring down his nose at her, his muscular arms hanging loosely by his sides.

Neither flinched as Danny unlocked the garage door and thrust it open with a soft grunt of effort, and neither looked at the car thief when she whistled, "Damn. You guys know how to pick hot car forms."

Callie didn't have to look at her cousin to know that her brown eyes were glued firmly on the other lambo and the Porsche. But the blonde couldn't bring herself to look; these mechs were a potential threat to Thundercracker, no matter how much Sideswipe said they would not harm him.

The blonde flinched as she thought that the Autobot's wouldn't harm the humans, but the crimson Autobot had never said anything about the Decepticon. Callie's arms tightened around her body as worry swamped her, causing her chest to ache and her stomach to twist.

She would not allow anyone to harm Thundercracker, and Callie could only pray that Danny would help her get him out of the Autobot base if need be.

Metallic sounds of metal shifting and resetting into a new configuration rung out as the Cybertronians transformed and even Callie had to look. She couldn't help it, she just had to see.

The nine Autobot's stood tall and healthy outside of the garage; another, tall and deep red one jumped from the trailer that the semi was towing to stand tall with his allies.

The black and white Porsche and cop car, the red vanette, the blue race car, the green jeep, the gold lambo, the white ambulance, and the semi all transformed easily and smoothly. Their armour slid into place without catching on broken gears gracefully, settling into the appropriate slots without problems.

Their armour was shinny and healthy, their bodies strong and whole, and it annoyed and angered Callie suddenly. Thundercracker was weak, grey and hurting. His pain caused by the Autobots, and it wasn't fair.

Members of _this_ fraction had caused his pain.

Callie huffed in annoyance again, using it as a shield to hide her worry and fear. From behind her Sideswipe shifted and the blonde glanced up at him to see he looked worried. Frowning, Callie followed the lambo's line of sight and fought a flinch at the dark and angry looks the golden Lamborghini and the cop car were giving him.

Focusing her attention back to the semi as he stood tall and proud before them, Callie couldn't help but mutter, "Your friends don't look happy to see you here."

The crimson Autobot sighed, sheepishly dropping his optics from Prowl's and Sunstreaker's angry looks. Instead he focused on Thundercracker's battered frame, refusing to even met Ratchet or Optimus's optics,

"Yeah, I didn't really tell them that I was going. They've been...worried." Sideswipe sounded almost afraid of what Prowl and Sunstreaker were going to do once they no doubt got him alone.

Callie sighed again as the massive form of the semi-who must have been Optimus Prime- crouched down as much as he could to be closer to the humans, and Callie couldn't help but glare at the large leader.

The semi held up blue hands in a sign of surrender to the humans hoping it would ease their tension and fear. In a gentle, rumbling tone, he greeted the humans, "I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots. We mean you no harm,"

Optimus never got to finish whatever he was attempting to say while the blonde stared icily at the Autobot leader, Danny stared in shock, practically spitting out "Oh come on!"

She suddenly sputtered, jabbing a finger towards the Prime, shock evident on her pretty face, "Look at the fucking size of him. He's huge!"

Danny was promptly ignored as another mech, the large white and red ambulance practically shoved his leader from the opening of the garage and cursed when his light blue optics fell on Thundercracker's broken form.

"Sideswipe," the white mech snapped, momentarily forgetting about his anger towards the frontliner,

"Bring him out here. We need to get a line hooked up to him and get energon flowing again."

The crimson mech didn't need to be told twice, and with another gentle shake to the seeker's shoulder to wake him up again, Sideswipe had Thundercracker shuffling towards the exit of the garage. Callie ignored all others around her, opting to keep up with the damaged seeker's slow, painful process across the garage floor. She knew Danny would, when push came to shove, take care of the others, but it was Thundercracker who needed her to watch out for him now.

The should-have-been blue mech didn't even try to struggle or protest when he came into arms length of the Autobot medic and said medic gently grabbed at the seekers arm and helped him the rest of the way out.

The seeker let out a long, low groan that was full of static pain as the medic forced him to lay back. Thundercracker's back was numb, he couldn't feel the damage to the area where his wing once was anymore and he was having trouble moving his digits.

In his haze of pain and exhaustion, the seeker knew that Ratchet was shouting orders and cursing darkly over his battered frame. He saw more than felt a needle pierce of soft mesh of his elbow, hitting a main, partly dry energon line.

Another groan slipped passed the seeker's damaged lips as medical grade energon began flowing into his damaged body as Ratchet fought to keep the blue seeker from falling into stasis.

Callie has wandered to the mouth of the door before Optimus stopped her from going outside. The massive mech carefully held out blue hand to stop the blonde, his gentle voice rumbling, "Let Ratchet do his work."

The blonde turned her cold, blue eyes up to the Autobot leader and he could see the worry for the seeker beneath the ice. It both worried and pleased the Prime to see this; if a seeker like Thundercracker could make a friend like this, there had to be hope yet.

However, what had happened in these last four day? What had actually happened out on I-15? Optimus wanted to know, and he would find out, but at the moment he was just glad that the human's seemed to be fine. Completely unharmed. Angry even.

"He's fucking huge!" Danny's almost angry voice broke the tension, causing both her cousin and the Prime to look at her. "He's bigger than Thundercracker!" she spat at her cousin.

Optimus saw the worry and fear turn to rage in the blonde's eyes as she snarled softly at her cousin. Behind them Epps and Lennox shifted uneasily, their gazes continued to drift to the covered bodies in the room and the weapons on the table.

Sideswipe had vouched for the human femmes, firmly saying it was _self-defense_ that led to the deaths of the men under the tarp. The frontliners morals, however, were at times questionable.

The crimson frontliner kept shooting worried looks to the humans, feeling yet another fight brewing while Ratchet worked hard to save Thundercracker's life.

"We have much to discus and little time to do so." Optimus began gently, bringing the girls attention back to him, "The safest place to speak will be back at the base."

Both human's sighed in annoyance, but were unsurprised as they already knew that they would be leaving. Already the others had packed quick go bags in preparation. It still didn't make it any less difficult to have to leave.

"However," the Autobot leader rumbled, his voice soft and worried, "We must clear up another matter."

His massive blue helm tipped to the bodies that were still hidden by the tarp. "What happened?"

His rumbling, brass voice was so gentle and kind that it made Callie and Danny want to spill their guts. The Autobot leader had, despite his massive size, oozed calm and gentleness. Safe. That was how the Prime could make anyone feel, if they were willing to open up to feeling.

The Prime reminded both hardened street thugs of the father's they had lost.

Years of on the run and their lives constantly being in danger had ensured that their mouths stayed shut. As Optimus swung his gaze from one to the other, neither could help but squirm and fidget under the warm gaze of the Autobot leader.

The only sound's heard were from Ratchet's harsh cursing and Thundercracker's gentle gasping of pain as the medic dug around in his innards.

Callie cringed at the noises, "Can't you do something. Put him under, give him something for the pain?"

Optimus couldn't help but feel surprise. Sideswipe hadn't exaggerated when he said that the blonde one called Callie was close to the seeker. Something must have happened, and Optimus was genuinely curious to what that was.

Not turning to face the human, Ratchet snarled back, "I've already given him more than enough for the pain. Had to slagging put it through his CPU. Tricked his pain receptors into thinking that everything is fine, but his systems are trying to re-route the patch. If that happens the receptors are going to come back online and make it worse. I have to watch that code patch and make sure his CPU doesn't realize it's not suppose to be there." The medic took a deep intake of air, sounding more annoyed then anything, "Can't slagging put him under sedation because of the lack of energon in his lines. If I put him under now, it'll be far too potent and send him into stasis. Need to get more energon into him before I can safely put him under."

Callie made an unhappy noise deep in her throat, but said no more.

"Callie?" Optimus called out gently, and the blonde turned her attention back to the Prime, "Ratchet is the best. If anything can be done to aid Thundercracker, he will do it. I assure you."

Optimus kept his voice gentle and reassuring. He needed them to be calm to ensure this process went smoothly, "I need to assess the risk you pose to my comrades and allies. What transpired that lead to this?" again Optimus tipped his helm to the bodies.

Again, Danny and Callie shared a look, taking strength from one another. Their eyes hardened and they turned their attention back to the Prime, no longer fidgeting and refusing to respond.

"Listen girls," Epps began, his dark eyes hard on the females, knowing they had precious little time before the Decepticon's realized that so many Autobot's were converging in a single city, "We don't have time for this. Either you spill it now. Or we take you into custody, separate you from the kids and make you talk. It's your choice."

The words were cold and harsh, Epps knew, but they didn't have time for this crap. All it would take was

Soundwave catching Thundercracker's signal and this uneasy alliance would crumble down around them.

His words however got Callie and Danny's backs up; their angry eyes hardened even more as they glared at the sergeant, their bodies going stiff as though to make a dash for the weapons on the work table.

Tensions escalated between the humans, and Optimus knew that something needed to be done to defuse the situation.

Blue optics glanced at Lennox, who gave an uncertain look back to the Prime, neither really sure how to calm a pair of potentially violent civilians who seemed to know how to handle weapons, if the dead bodies were any indication.

Much to everyone's surprise, that calming force came in the form of Sideswipe; the crimson frontliner looked up from Thundercracker's side, firmly ignoring the angry looks from Prowl and Sunstreaker to look towards the human femme's.

"Danny," he started quietly, his voice just loud enough to draw the thief's attention to him, "They just want to know if you're going to go crazy and kill them in their sleep." The girl quirked a brow, looking more offended then angry that others would think that of her, but allowed Sideswipe to continue, "Think about it. If you walked into a building and found two dead bodies and a stash of guns, wouldn't you think

that whoever was there was crazy too?"

Optimus just managed to keep the surprise from his optics as he regarded Sideswipe. Normally the frontliner was more akin to taking care of a sparkling, causing trouble, not actually helping calming a potentially volatile situation.

'Everyone has their moments.' Optimus mused, giving nothing away however, and was sure that if Sunstreaker and Prowl weren't so angry with him, they'd be impressed to.

Danny heaved a sigh, her brown eyes locked with Sideswipe's optics, "They just need to be sure. You'd have done the same."

The burgundy haired girl sighed again, opened her mouth to say something only to think better of it and shut her mouth. Callie never took her eyes from Optimus.

Eventually Danny managed a very quiet, "They were sent here to kill us because I stole a gangster's car. Was paid to do it. He took offence." she paused and shrugged, "It was self-defense. They shot first, and your boy," she nodded to Sideswipe, "can verify that."

Optimus paused to consider the information before speaking in gentle tones, "That is all?"

"It's a very dumbed down version of events. But yeah. Essentially."

Danny gave a single shoulder shrug, her brown eyes inspecting the newcomers behind the Prime. Sighing, still watching the Autobots while they watched her, she muttered, "So much worse than Orlando."

Callie's dark blue eyes swung to her cousin, blazing with anger, "No. It's. Not."

Danny snorted, "Yeah it is."

Callie's mouth shot open to argue, when the Prime's engine revved gently, drawing their attention back to him. They didn't have time for their petty squabbling, "If this was self-defense, I'm sure Lennox and Epps can work something out."

The girls and Optimus turned their attention back to Lennox as he toed one of the corpses beneath the tarp, "We'll look into it."

Optimus gave a small nod, "What happened out on I-15?"

Callie huffed, still glaring at her cousin, "I needed to go into town. A couple of guys followed me back to my truck and tried to rape me. TC. Thundercracker protected me and Lucy. If he hadn't been there to protect us..."

The blonde's jaw snapped shut like a steel trap, the words left unsaid hung thickly between the Autobot leader and the small human. Optimus felt, once again, surprise ripple through his frame. He had been prepared for many things, including the human's that Thundercracker had been with to be damaged, clinging to life. But this? This he had not been prepared for.

The Prime's blue optics shifted to the downed seeker for a moment; Thundercracker groaned again, his optic flickering from pale pink to white. No doubt Ratchet was having a hard time keeping that patch code firmly in place.

"So wait," a soft voice from behind Optimus said. The Prime turned to look at Hound who appeared to be torn between wanting to ensure the human femmes were alright and not ready to believe them, "Thundercracker protected you?"

Callie raised her head a little higher as her shoulder swept to make herself appear taller, "Yes. He did."

Three simple words, no room for argument.

"But. Why?" Hound asked gently, genuinely confused.

"He's my friend." Another straightforward response from the blonde, a firm belief in her own words.

From behind the jeep, Callie heard someone snort, maybe the golden Lamborghini, and the other Autobots shifted uncomfortably. It was very easy to shoot down a Decepticon when you assumed they were all evil, coldblooded killers. It was quite another story when you considered that they might actually have feelings and friends outside of battle.

"But," Hound started still confused, "he killed those men. Doesn't that bother you?"

"No. Not at all." Callie said firmly, "They deserved what they got. Just like those men did" she tipped her head to the bodies beneath the tarp.

"But that life is gone." Hound said softly, still not understanding. The green mech was no fool; in nature, in order for one creature to live another must die. The rabbit eats the grass and the fox eats the rabbit.

That was the way of things; that was normal and natural.

Yet, this blatant disregard for life bothered the tracker. Those men didn't really deserve to die, did they?

The blonde seemed to think so.

"What about my life? Don't I deserve to be protected and safe?"

"Well, yes of course. But,"

"Where were you _Autobots_ when I was being attacked? Nowhere to be found, that's where. It was Thundercracker who protected me and Lucy out on I-15. And you know what, he probably saved many more girls from that fate." Callie hissed.

"Who made Thundercracker judge and jury?" The blue mech beside the jeep demanded softly, his voice hard yet cultured.

Callie, not one to be brow beaten, merely narrowed her eyes on the other, "They did. When they followed me from the town with bad intentions and wanted to hurt me. No one made them follow me, they could have done the right thing and left me alone. They got what they deserved."

"But," the green jeep said softly, sadly, "They deserved the chance to change. The chance to live. They had family who loved them too, and maybe, given a chance, they could have changed."

Callie snorted, "Maybe. But sometimes you just pick on the wrong person and end up six feet under. Happens every single day. They still got what they deserved." She straightened, looking coldly up at the two mechs, "And now they'll never get the chance to redeem themselves or, in the more likely event, hurt anyone else ever again."

The race car quirked an annoyed brow at the human and Hound made an unhappy sound. Before anyone else could add in their own two cents, Optimus held up his hand, "Enough. All of you."

From the corner of his optic Optimus could see Mirage relax slightly, but Hound looked put out, wanting to help the humans in any way he could. Callie still looked ready to yell at someone until Danny stepped between her and the Autobots.

The car thief looked up at the Prime, "What happens now?"

Her voice was low and soft, and despite hearing her heart pounding in her chest, her face portrayed no fear.

"We need to remove you from the premises, if only temporarily. We will bring you to our base, where both Autobot and Nest operatives alike will aid in protecting you." Optimus explained.

Danny gave a small nod, "Alright. For how long?"

"We will need to assess the situation."

Danny gave another small nod, satisfied with that answer. Callie poked her head around her cousin's shoulder, her eyes still cold and narrowed, "What about Thundercracker. What's going to happen to him?" the blonde paused to glare at Sideswipe, "The red lambo said something about interrogation?"

Several annoyed eyes and optics turned to glare angrily at the frontliner and Sideswipe could only grin weakly.

Keeping his blue optics focused solely on Callie, Optimus pressed his blue servo to his chest plates, "I promise you Callie, that no harm will come to Thundercracker while he is with us. We will tend to his wounds and go from there." He paused for a moment, considering his next words. Perhaps if he made it seem as though she could make a decision or had some form of power over the situation she would calm, "Is this okay?"

The blonde's eyes narrowed on the Autobot, considering her option. After a moment she nodded slowly.

Optimus nodded back and straightened as he regarded his medic, "Ratchet, is he almost ready to go?"

Without bothering to turn to the Prime, Ratchet said over his shoulder, "I just need a breem. He's got enough energon in his systems, I'm just waiting for the sedation programs to put him under. Then we can move him into your trailer."

"Of course." Optimus nodded before turning his attention back to the humans, "Are you ready to go?"

Callie sighed angrily as though to say 'Now?' but said nothing. Danny gave a small nod, her head tipping to the bodies, "What about that problem?"

Optimus tipped his helm to Lennox for an answer. The nest commander glanced at the bodies with disinterest and sighed, "We'll break down the weapons and take them with us. We'll have to call LAPD, but we should be able to smooth this over without bringing your names into it."

Danny nodded, more than happy to let someone else do the dirty work for once. Callie, on the other hand, wanted more of a reassurance, "How?"

Lennox opened his mouth to answer, and he had planned on responding honestly, when Epps beat him to the punch, "We could tell you." He said with a toothy grin, having calmed since it seemed the girl's didn't seem to be psychotic, despite the situation, "But then we'd have to kill you."

Lennox sighed and rolled his eyes while Danny snorted. The weak joke did, however, have the desired effect on Callie and the blonde's grim face broke into a smirk for the first time since meeting Sideswipe.

It was gone just as quickly, but Callie seemed a little less tense then she had before.

'Good ol' Epps.' Lennox thought to himself, and again thanked whatever god that had placed Epps on his crew, "If we're all done here. Let's move out men."

As Lennox pulled out a cell phone to call the police to inform them of the issue, Danny gave a small nod, turning her head up to her sisters, "Let's go you four."

Moving as quick and smoothly as any army unit clearing from a base, the girls moved. Mia scooped Lucy from the stairs and tossed a bag over her shoulder before she came down the metal stairs. Lucy's small back pack hung heavily over Mia's slim arm and the small blonde clung to her little doll, Miss Molly.

Lucy glared up at the Prime with the same vigor as her older sister. Aleyah was right behind her sister, Liz behind her with a laptop tucked under her arm and a backpack. Aleyah came thumping down the staircase carrying her own bag over her shoulder and Danny's and Callie's bags in her hands.

Practically tossing their bags to the appropriate owners, Aleyah came to stand behind her sister and cousin. Callie and Danny tossed their own bags over their shoulders and with one last look back, they turned to leave the garage.

Danny paused for a moment with a sad sigh when she looked at the ruined Shelby; Callie continued her way out of the garage, Mia and Aleyah right behind her. Liz stood beside her older sister, looking worriedly around the garage that had become their home for the last little while.

Liz pressed her small hand to Danny's elbow with a slight frown, "Come one Danny. We need to go."

She paused again before softly adding, "It's not like we've never had to pick up and move before. We're used to this sort of thing."

Still looking at the Shelby, Danny sighed, "Yeah. But we've never had to rely on government soldiers before." The car thief paused for a moment, "Or aliens."

"I know. But at least we're not alone this time." Liz looked up at Danny with eyes so much like her own.

Danny glanced over her shoulder with a sigh, watching the Autobots that waited for her wearily. Lennox had finished his call to the police and Epps was already breaking down the girls weapons, packing the pieces into a black duffel bag. Danny heaved another sigh, "That's what I'm worried about Liz." She glanced over to the Nest commanders, "We don't know these people. We have no idea if they'll hurt us or not."

Danny turned to close the bay door of the garage, Liz following close behind her sister with a growing, shy smile on her face, "Not everyone is trying to kill us Danny. "

As the car thief pulled down on the rope, pulling the tin door down, Danny snorted and nodded to the two bodies in the garage, "It seems that way though, doesn't?"

Liz flinched when the bay door slammed shut with bang. Danny sighed and locked the door, turning to move to the small door. Liz still managed to smile up at her sister as they walked toward the two Nest commanders as they finished breaking down the weapons, "I have a good feeling about this Danny. I think, I think this time we'll be okay."

Fighting the urge to snort in disbelief, Danny just shook her head at her sister's naivety. After all the time they had spent on the run Liz and Mia still held on to that silly naive hope that everything would work out okay, that humanity wasn't as bad as it seemed.

All the while Danny took the lumps the world dished out to them and when it was over she would pick herself back up, dust herself off and carry on. She made sure to protect what little innocence her sisters and young cousin still had, but sometimes their childlike look at the world made the car thief cringe. The things they had seen, had done to survive, they should have known better.

Shoving those thoughts away, Danny opened the door for Liz. The blonde grinned at her sister once more before leaving the garage and the burgundy haired girl looked back at the Nest soldiers, "You guys ready to go?"

Lennox placed the last of the weapon pieces into the duffel bag and nodded to the girl, "Let's go."

The two soldiers left the garage, the bag of weapons under Lennox's arm. Epps paused beside Danny after Lennox left the garage and gave the female an almost sad look, "Ya know, we're not going to hurt you guys."

Her hand instinctively came to her abdomen where the scar lay beneath her shirt. Staring frostily at the Sergeant, Danny practically spat, "We'll see."

Epps blinked at her in slight surprise and gave a little shake of his head, muttering "Crazy girls." Before he too left the confines of the garage.

Smirking, Danny followed him out, locking the door behind her, only to be stopped by Lennox.

"I've contacted LAPD." Lennox began, "I've explained that you were an undercover agent and that your post was compromised."

"That's a lie." Danny said and couldn't help but smirk at the taller man.

Epps snorted from beside his captain, "Yes it is. But at least they'll clean up _your_ mess."

"They'll take the bodies to the morgue and notify family. You're names won't be mentioned. A cover story will be made up." Lennox shrugged, "Probably something along the line of drug deal gone wrong while you were doing undercover work, which was the reason we were forced to pull you from your post."

"And LAPD will go along with it because we're," Danny lifted her hands and used her fingers as quotation marks, "'government agents'?"

Epps and Lennox shared a look before addressing the car thief. Lennox gave a shrug, "Exactly."

Danny thought about it for a moment and nodded before moving to stand with her sisters and cousins. Around them the Autobots made a loose circle with the Nest soldiers.

Lennox came to stand beside Callie, whose blue eyes were still glued to Thundercracker's damaged form. Ratchet and Perceptor were trying to lift his leaking, awkward frame into Optimus's trailer without doing more damage to the seeker.

The blonde made a distressed noise in the back of her throat, almost like a whimper as her small hands balled into tight fists.

Optimus, wanting to put the girls at ease and distract Callie from Thundercracker's damage, cleared his throat, drawing the girl's attention back to himself.

"You already know Sideswipe and met my medic Ratchet." The Prime began, "My second in command Prowl and third in command Jazz." At his words, the SIC and TIC straightened.

"The rest of my team Ironhide, Hound, Mirage, Sunsreaker, and Perceptor." Optimus introduced his team, each nodding in response to their names.

The girls nodded in return, each trying to memorise the name that associated with each Autobot. It was just when Lennox opened him mouth to introduce the human side of the team, when Ratchet glared over Perceptor's read shoulder, snapping "Enough with the Pit spawned hello's. Thundercracker isn't going to make it if we keep wasting time!"

Callie nodded and moved to join the medic in the back of Optimus's trailer. The Prime held out a blue servo to stop her again, "Callie it will not be safe to be back there. It is too risky for you to be with Thundercracker at the moment. All it would take is for a single bump in the road and you'd be crushed."

Scowling up at the Prime, Callie crossed her arms over her chest, her blue eyes shooting back to the trailer that the seeker had been loaded into and then back to Optimus, "Where are we going then?"

Her voice was hard and clipped, her blue eyes never losing their cool demeanor. Optimus fought the urge to sigh, calling upon all the patience he had garnered since meeting the twins, "Ironhide's alt form will allow you and your cousins to ride together."

Callie nodded, never taking her eyes from Optimus, "We're trusting you here Optimus." The blonde paused to look over at Sideswipe, who was still standing awkwardly where Ratchet had left him, before looking back to the Prime, "Don't make me wrong by trusting you."

Those words stung, ever so slightly. Optimus honestly did try to do right by all he met, and if he could help these humans, he would. Their doubt bothered him on some level.

Instead of voicing those doubts however, Optimus looked Callie right in the eye, "Everything will be alright Callie. No harm will come to you, your family, or Thundercracker. I promise you this."

Dark blue eyes softened as Callie stared up at the Prime, "Alright." She said simply, "Let's get out of here."

Optimus nodded his massive blue helm before looking up to Ironhide, "Ready?"

Ironhide nodded, "Ah'm ready Prime. Let's get the bitlits outta here."

The massive walking war machine transformed, dropping down into his boxy red alt form. Callie didn't react to Ironhide's transformation, she had spent too much time around Thundercracker to react. Instead she carefully took Lucy from Mia and marched proudly to the red vanette.

Aleyah glanced at her older sister and followed after Callie; Mia shot a beaming smile at Epps, which baffled the Sergeant after the treatment he received from Danny, before running to catch up with Callie and Aleyah.

Liz shifted nervously beside Danny, shooting worried glances up at her older sister. A look of mirth spread over the car thief's face and she bit her lip hard to stop from laughing. Then a snort left the girl, which was followed by a chocked off giggle and before Callie even reached Ironhide, Danny burst into a fit of laughter.

Callie stopped short of Ironhide, sighed and turned to look at her laughing cousin. Giving her a flat look, the blonde snapped, "What!"

Danny managed to say something, but her laughter was so heavy that it chocked out what she was trying to say. Frowning at her cousin, Callie cocked an eye brow, "What?"

Gasping, Danny managed to get out, "He's a vanette!" more laughter bubbled from the car thief before she added, "All the others have bad ass Transformations and he's a bloody vanette!"

Snarling, Ironhide transformed back into his root mode, servos on hips and blue optics narrowing in on the car thief, he demanded, "What's wrong with my alt form?"

Wiping tears from her brown eyes, Danny reduce her laughter to giggles, "Besides the fact it's a vanette? All your team mates have bad ass alt form. I mean, come on, your riding with a pair of Lamborghini's, a Porsche, and a race car. And you choose a vanette?"

Danny couldn't help it. More laughter bubbled from her small frame, ignorant to the fact that everyone with the exception to Ratchet was just staring at her.

The massive red mech quickly pulled his face into a frown as he scowled down at the small human femme. He was not entirely sure how to take what she was saying, but was increasingly becoming insulted.

Callie just sighed, rubbing at her temple as she felt a head ache coming on, "Danny. Just shut up and get in. Thundercracker doesn't have time for this."

"Look, I'm sorry your pal is hurt, I am, but I'm not ridding with the vanette. I've managed to build up a rep of being a car thief. A very good, bad ass car thief which will be trashed if I'm seen riding in a vanette." The car thief said, her laughter reduced to chuckles.

"Danny!"

"Nope. I'd rather ride with the cop car," Danny paused thinking, remembering the name that Optimus had said, "Prowl and look as though I'm being arrested."

Callie glowered at her cousin while Ironhide just stared at her slightly baffled. The blonde gritted her teeth, "Just get over here so we can go already!"

Instead, Danny turned and held her wrists up to Prowl as though she were waiting to be arrested, "Ready when you are."

Ironhide, finally getting a hold of himself, rolled his angry blue optics and snarled, "For Pit's sake, fine!" at the girls before he turned to face Callie's truck.

The big red warrior held a big servo out to the truck, and for a moment the blonde thought that he was going to smash the truck. Instead a thin, blue disk shaped light came from the palm of his hand and lit over the truck; he didn't move until the light disappeared back into the hand.

Prowl, whose door wings arched even higher, looked ever blankly at the weapons master, "We hardly have time for this." He said coldly.

Ironhide snarled at his SIC, "But at least that little _bitlit_ will shut up."

Dropping her arms to her side, Danny frowned up at the massive red mech, slightly insulted and not sure what a bitlit was. She opened her mouth to say something, but thought better of it when he snarled down at her before transforming once again.

Instead of dropping down into the hideous red vanette, Ironhide's armour shifted into a different configuration and a red copy of Callie's truck stood in place.

Even Callie had to raise a blonde brow in surprise at the Autobot's ability to change his alt form into something so different; Danny's jaw dropped slightly in her surprise.

"You could change your form this whole time, and you kept the vanette! What's wrong with you?"

The red mech growled at her in response, his frame shaking with the noise, but decided not to dignify that question with a response. Callie sighed, dropping her head into her hand in irritation as a red door popped open, the passenger side seat leaning forward, an offering to let them ride with him.

"Danny, just shut up and get in."

As Mia climbed into Ironhide's alt form, Danny calmly walked over to the newly formed truck and eased her bag into the box, "You know when you say 'just get in' it sounds so wrong in this aspect."

Her blonde cousin lifted Lucy into Ironhide's alt form as she gave her cousin a dry look, "Just shut up."

Aleyah climbed in next to Lucy and Ironhide shoved his seat back with a little more force than necessary.

Danny smirked at her cousin, "Well, looks like there's no more room for me." Her brown eyes flashed up at Sideswipe, "I guess I could always ride with Sideswipe instead of Prowl. You know, comfort thing, me being familiar with him and all."

As the blonde pulled herself into the cab of Ironhide's new alt form, she frowned at her cousin, "What are you up to?"

Danny shrugged, "Wanna see how the other side lives. You know, with the lack of stealing cars and all."

"Just get in the Lamborghini Danny." Callie snapped, ignoring the near stunned stares they received from the other Autobots.

The car thief grinned at her cousin, her smile all sharp angles and teeth, "I believe you mean, go with Sideswipe. Otherwise that would be derogatory."

"Danny!"

Rolling her eyes, Danny walked over to the crimson mech. She tilted her head up, grinning, "What d'ya say Sideswipe?"

The crimson mech froze, his blue optics wide at the human. Most of the Nest soldiers tended to avoid him and Sunny because of their nastier tendencies and wild ways. There were not too many who openly wanted to hang out with him because of it.

Knowing that he was already in for it the moment he got back to base, Sideswipe sent a sheepish glance up at Prowl, silently asking permission. The Praxion's wings came higher as his blue optics narrowed in on his charge, causing the frontliner to shrink into himself, giving his SIC a slight grin, "Fine." Prowl's monotone voice nearly bit out, "But when we return to the Ark, we need to have a long conversation on your inability to follow orders."

The Autobot SIC was too aggravated by the crimson frontliner to feel relieved that he would not be forced to cart around an unknown human in his alt form.

Danny flinched at the harsh words directed at the frontliner, but managed to hide it by beaming a grin up at the SIC. Sideswipe managed to flash another grin at Prowl before dropping down into his sleek alt from, purposely ignoring his twins snarl.

The passenger side door eased open and Danny grinned as she stepped into the crimson Lamborghini, "Alright Callie, this is suddenly better then Orlando."

The blonde felt rage wash over her at her cousins words and before she could stop herself she snarled like an angry cat, "Shut up Danny!"

As Danny laughed at her cousin, Sideswipe shifted awkwardly on his tires, "You keep mentioning Orlando, what happened?"

Danny ducked her head to stifle the smirk that grew on her small face. Callie shot to her feet, standing on the side of Ironhide's alt form so that her head poked over the roof to glare and snarl at her cousin, "You want to know what happened in Orlando! I'll tell you, Danny beat the snot out of the police chief's son. Broke four ribs and cracked his skull! He was lucky he survived the beating! That's why we can't go back to Orlando. We'd all be arrested!"

Six pairs of concerned blue optics swung from Callie to look at Danny. Said car thief sat in Sideswipe's alt form, not bothering to get out as she examined her nails suddenly, irritating her cousin by simply ignoring her. She couldn't help the smirk that stretched out over her small face, all sharp angles and white teeth, "Funny. Whenever you tell that story, you always leave out the important bits Cal." Danny began.

She tilted her head to look at her blonde cousin, her brown eyes darkened as she did, "You always forget to mention that the kid had a violent history of killing animals and harassment that really boarder lined torture to young children. _And_ " Danny stressed, "he was stalking Mia for weeks. He was creepy and he cornered her out behind that mall when she was walking home from work. God knows what he would have done if I hadn't been there to pick her up."

Danny shrugged, "He had it coming."

"A normal person would call the police! Not take a Louisville slugger to him!" Callie snapped, her face flushing with her anger.

"Right, 'cause all those parents whose children he practically tortured didn't do that. And every single time his _police chief_ father didn't find some way to blame the kids? Because his little boy would never hurt anyone, would he?" the sarcasm practically dripped from Danny's voice but her dark eyes were hard and angry on Callie.

The blond snarled back at her dark haired cousin, but before she could snap back, Ratchet's own voice snarled out to interrupt, "Enough with the fragging fighting! Shut up and get with the slagging program, both of you!"

Both Callie and Danny stared in shock at the Autobot medic, not used to someone snapping back at them before. Ratchet took their stunned silence as a means to continue, "Thundercracker doesn't have time for your childish arguing. We need to get him to the medbay as soon as possible."

Callie shot one last glare at her cousin before she disappeared back into Ironhide's alt form. Danny shrugged, quickly hiding the sudden guilt she felt for delaying their departure, "Come one Liz, you can ride with me and Sideswipe."

The smaller blonde shuffled from where she was in the middle of the circle of Autobots. Looking down and slightly self conscious she managed to say, "There's really not a lot of room with Sideswipe. Lamborghini...and all."

Danny frowned and a flash of disappointment crossed her face, "Alright. I'll ride with you and whichever Autobot is willing to take us."

Danny moved to leave Sideswipe's alt form, confusing the frontliner as she continued to change her blasted mind, when Liz shrugged, "It's fine Danny. I'll be okay."

The car thief frowned, when Hound cut in. The green mech grinned widely at the blonde, his big blue optics twinkling, "I can take her. I really don't mind."

Liz managed to smile weakly, almost nervously up at the jeep, "A-alright."

Danny frowned at Hound as he transformed, "You sure Liz?"

Easing her bag into the back seat of Hound's alt form, Liz managed a shy smile at her older sister, "I'll be aright Danny."

The blonde pulled herself up into Hound's alt form and made herself comfortable. The seatbelt snaked itself around her small waist on its own accord, clicking securely into place. Liz looked down at the seat belt and grinned with elation, loving the fact Hound could do so on his own, "See Danny, he even did up my seatbelt."

The brown eyed girl rolled her eyes as she settled back into Sideswipe's frame, "Yeah, what a gentlemen."

Sideswipe actually chuckled a little as he closed his door, allowing Danny to secure her own seat belt, "Gentlemech is the word you're looking for."

Danny just rolled her eyes at the mech, reaching to turn on the radio. She stopped, her hand hanging just inches from the dial, "Is it rude to play with your _buttons_?"

Utilizing his visual relays, Sideswipe could see the near leer on her grinning face. The crimson frontliner could only laugh, silently thinking how much more fun the base was about to become.

As Hound, Sideswipe and Ironhide lined themselves up so that they would be in the center of the convoy once the human femmes were finally loaded up, Optimus, Prowl and Jazz walked to the edge of the property; Epps and Lennox hopped back into their own vehicles to prepare for the trek back to Jetfire.

As Optimus closed the doors to his trailer, locking a frantically working Ratchet and Perceptor in with a severely damaged Thundercracker, Jazz looked up at his commander, "Boss 'Bot, what in the Pit just happened?"

Prowl, more irritated at Sideswipe then the human's behaviour, arched his door wings, "We just offered aid and sanctuary to not only a high ranking Decepticon, one that we can no longer interrogate," icy blue optics shifted to Optimus before returning to Jazz, "but to a group of human miscreants with a habit of violent and murderous tendencies as well. That is what we just did Jazz."

Jazz thought for a moment, his optics drifted upward behind his visor as he thought about what his spark mate just said before responding, "Ah thought that's what we just did."

"Sometimes," Optimus said suddenly as he turned to face his two subordinates, "even the hardest people need help Prowl. You of all of us should know this." The Autobot leader's soft blue optics drifted to Sideswipe and Sunsreaker before returning to his SIC, "I believe they have had a harder run at life than most. Perhaps they just need a second chance and someone to show them another way to go about life."

Prowl's door wings flared out, ever so slightly, in an unconscious attempt to make himself look larger than he was as his Prime's words insulted him more than it normally would have. The door winger's restrained emotions still too raw from Sideswipe's foolish adventure, causing his logical processor to over tax itself more than usual.

Just as quickly as the unintended hurt feeling came, they were smoothed as it was no doubt Jazz that informed Prowl over the bond that Prime meant no offence. Merely pointing out the truth in the situation, and that Prowl had experience in dealing with 'violent miscreants'.

White and black door wings relaxed back into their normal position on Prowl's back as the tactician began to understand what Optimus was actually trying to telling him. Optimus turned his attention to the small convoy as Prowl quickly reined in his emotions, at least pretending not to notice the Praxians unintentional show of dominance.

The entire scene was done and over with within a matter of seconds and went by unnoticed by all others, something the Prime was grateful for. No need for anyone to think that Prowl and himself were arguing.

Nodding ever so slightly, Prowl looked up at his commander, "Of course Prime. Shall we get back to base now that the femmes have been dealt with?"

Optimus nodded back to his SIC, "Yes. I'll have you and Jazz lead us to Jetfire while I tow Thundercracker."

The bond mates nodded to their Prime, Prowl monotone as ever and Jazz grinning like a fool as they did their final preparations to set out for the desert. The Prime was unsure what was to become of the little human's they found, but one thing was for sure; Mearing would be very unhappy when she found out.

()()()

Callie was angry.

She was angry and irritated, and if something didn't go right soon, she was going to shoot someone.

Maybe her dumb, thieving cousin.

Huffing, the blonde crossed her arms as she sat moodily within Ironhide's new alt form, watching the back of Optimus's trailer bump along the road with angry blue eyes.

The old warrior had not tried to start a conversation with any of the humans he was currently lugging to...wherever. Supposedly to a secret military base that didn't exist, and that also doubled as an alien strong hold and home.

Vaguely the blonde wondered why Ironhide had not tried to talk with them, considering they were ridding _within_ him. It was a bit creepy when you think about it that way. Ah well, no doubt the red mech was still sore at Danny making fun of his previous alt form and, not that Callie would ever admit it, but her cousin was right.

The vanette was a horrendous form. Really Ironhide was better off as a truck anyways.

The blonde viciously pushed those thoughts away, determined to hang onto her anger as long as she could. She was still just too sore to surrender her hurt so easily; she was irritated at Danny for not only stealing a car that turned out to be Sideswipe but for purposely riling her up. With an audience of army men and alien soldiers no less.

Heat from her embarrassment suddenly flooded the blonde, rising up from her neck and coloring her cheeks red. She momentarily forgot her ire as she thought about how she had just acted, how she had so easily rose to Danny's bait. No one else on the face of the earth could rile her up as easily as her cousin could.

Anger at that thought came back tenfold, and the need to strangle her dumb cousin again rose to the fore front of the blonde's mind. One of these days, she was going to get Danny back for the dim-witted things she did.

Pressing herself back deeper into Ironhide's leather seat, Callie sighed as her mind turned to the other object of her displeasure; Thundercracker.

As worried as she was for the foolish seeker, she did take some relief that he was already receiving proper medical help and would soon be going in for surgery to repair the damage to his frame. Now that she knew he was getting the help he so desperately needed, irritation began to replace that worry.

As much as Callie understood why the seeker had lied to her, she herself had done the same many a time in the past and if put in his position would have done the same, it still...hurt.

Scowling to herself, Callie knew better than to trust so blindly; but she had. She still did, she realised. She still trusted Thundercracker to not hurt her, despite the fact he lied to her.

Settling with a bit of a smirk, Callie came to realise that now that he would soon be repaired, Thundercracker would no longer have a reason not to hash out their differences before he was shipped back to the Nemesis. As far as Callie was concerned, he could sit there, shut up and listen to what the hell she had to say.

He at the very least owed her that. Besides, she could always lay a guilt trip on her guard and force him to listen to what she had to say.

Confident in her plan, Callie settled back to enjoy the rest of the ride to the 'secret base'. She would plan a way to get back at her cousin on the way there, if the trip was long enough.

Callie's musings were interrupted when Mia suddenly exclaimed from the back seat, "Is that a space ship!"

Callie looked up from Ironhide's dashboard to the waiting red and white space shuttle. The blonde smirked to herself as she thought, 'Ask and you shall receive. Thank you karma for your generous gift.'

Ironhide sighed, sounding as angry and irritated as Callie herself felt, "Yeah, it's a shuttle. His name is Jetfire."

From the back seat Mia gasped, happily squealing, "Really! Another one of you guys! How many of you are there?"

The old red mech sighed, murmuring more to himself than to them, "Not nearly enough."

The truck's dejected tone wiped the smile from Mia's face and the green eyed girl curled into herself, looking out the front window.

Callie patted her younger cousin's knee while asking, "So we're flying to base then?"

"It would appear so." The Autobot said firmly, shoving the unhappy tone from his voice, trying to be more sarcastic.

Ah yes, life just suddenly got a lot better, Callie thought to herself with a devious smirk. Her spirits lifting the closer they got to Jetfire's alt form, "Good."

Weather it was the sudden turnaround in her temperament or the sudden deviously happy tone to Callie's voice, Ironhide couldn't help but slowly ask, "What's so good about it?"

A smirk, much like the one Danny had bore before they left the garage stretched across Callie's face, "Danny is terrified of flying." She informed Ironhide innocently.

The red warrior wasn't entirely sure what to make of that statement, but all Callie could think of was, 'And all is once again right in the world.'

()()()

TBC...


	12. What's in the past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Important Information
> 
> "Blah" Speaking
> 
> :Blah: comm. link
> 
> 'Blah'bonded speech
> 
> 'Blah' thinking
> 
> Astrosecond- 2.5 earth Seconds
> 
> Klik- 150 earth seconds/ 2.5 earth Minutes
> 
> Orn- 150 earth minutes/ 2.5 earth Hours
> 
> Joor- 60 earth hours/2.5 earth Days
> 
> Metacycle- 17.5 earth days/2.5 earth Weeks
> 
> Vorn- 10 earth weeks/2.5 earth months
> 
> Stellercycle-30 earth months/2.5 years
> 
> Breem-slang for a moment/minute.
> 
> Night Cycle: star down to star up
> 
> Day Cycle: Star up to star down
> 
> Authors Note: Okay guys, so after a WAY to long break, I'm back! I'm not sure when the next chapter will come out, but I'm really hoping soon. RL stuff kicked my butt and it took a while to get this out.
> 
> First, Thank you SO much to DarknessRising10 (LightOurDarkestHour) for betaing this chapter and reading through it and letting me know it's not crap.
> 
> Next, thank you to Wanderling, SunnySidesofBlue, Cricket, Iwanita, Revillewolfie, loveme hate me, DarknessRising10, Over Powered, AH36, and Starcee138 who all reviewed! I live on reviews, so thanks guys,
> 
> Just as another note, this is not how I intended this chapter to come out. Soooo we are taking a little break from Thundercracker's plight. ^^
> 
> ALSO: I have opened a A03 account, in the event that this account is deleted or stories are deleted, you can continue to follow this story and others over there. My A03 account is still AcidGreenFlames and there is a link to follow posted on the front page of this account.
> 
> Lastly, there are some pretty mature themes in this chapter so please note the warnings.
> 
> Warnings: This chapter contains mature themes, post non-con, trauma, abuse, slavery and mentions of child abuse. If this will upset you, please skip this chapter.
> 
> Disclaimer: I own only my OC's, nothing else.

Three days.

A grand total of seventy two hours.

Four thousand, three hundred and twenty minutes.

That was how long Thundercracker had been out for once the Autobot medic had sedated him, allowing the blue seeker to float in a bubble of warm contentment, a blackness of nothing where he could not be hurt.

He didn't feel the spark crushing guilt for lying to Callie, the debilitating worry over his spark mate and wing mate or the seemingly never ending pain from his injuries. The blue seeker simply floated by, caring about nothing and for no one, only that everything in his little dark bubble of warmth was perfect. In the bubble everyone was safe, happy, and whole. He was safe, happy and whole.

In those three days Thundercracker woke only once, dragged into the bright, harsh light of the real world and away from the safety of the darkness and nothingness that he had made his home. He blinked crimson optics up at the bright light above him, cringing internally at the hideous orange of the ceiling looming above. He raised an arm to cup his repaired digits over his optics, not noticing the energon line in said arm gently pumping the life giving substance into his weary frame.

The seeker did realise in his haze that he could once again see with both optics, that the relays registered perfectly and unhindered. Confused, Thundercracker slowly lifted his other servo to rest along his cheek as he moved the other from his optics to his other cheek plate. Slowly his digits travelled over his face, feeling the smooth warm metal of his facial plates, completely repaired. He moved his servos back up to his optics, gently probing the now unbroken glass, not understanding why he didn't hurt. He had hurt the last time he was in the world of light.

Now though, he didn't hurt. His body, although tired, stiff and cramped, did _not_ hurt.

The blue seeker dropped the arm that had the energon line at his elbow across his abdomen, too tired to keep it up. He stretched the other to feel at his back, feeling the warm, smooth expansion of his wing.

Relief flooded the seeker as it registered through the fog that he again had two wings and he could fly once more. As soon as he could, he would fly in the warm blue sky, cutting through clouds like an energon sword through metal plating. A soft sigh slipped past smooth light grey lip plates; two wings meant he was whole again.

Curiosity fought its way through the haze in his processor as the seeker slowly moved his servo down his repaired chest plates, over un-cracked cockpit glass to his undamaged abdomen. His dark digits probed the new panels of his abdomen, the metal, although still unpainted, had been completely replaced and had the sheen of new life to it. Thundercracker had no idea how long he had been out for and frankly he was far too tired to bother with checking the time, however he did know one thing; someone had spent a very long time repairing his damages.

Almost as though he had been summoned by the thought, a pair of blue optics floated above the groggy seeker. Confused, Thundercracker canted his helm as he looked up at the blue lights above him. A white servo slowly reached out, grasping the now whole seeker's chin, tilting his helm towards the thick white body beside him.

A gruff voice floated from above the drowsy seeker, "Your optics are much brighter now. How do you feel?"

Grunting, Thundercracker fought very hard against the fog to remember the Autobot's name. He knew that he knew it, he just couldn't remember the 'bot's name.

The blue optics above him nodded, "I figured you'd still be pretty out of it if you woke up today."

The optics now bounced up and down, as though the medic were agreeing with himself. Thundercracker followed the blue orbs of light with his own crimson ones, the medics name finally coming to his befuddled processor, "...Ratchet?"

The old medic smirked down at the healing seeker, knowing his systems were still far too weak to expect much more, "Good. At least your memory banks weren't corrupted if you can recognize me."

Ratchet released Thundercracker's chin, crossing his thick arms over his chest, "You're very lucky, you know that right?" the medic didn't bother to wait for the seeker to answer him as he ploughed on, "I had to flush your engine. It was completely gunked up with diesel and it took me forever to clear it and that was _after_ I put your sorry aft back together."

The red and white Autobot sighed and shook his helm, optics narrowing in on the seeker, "You had better thank your little human when you can actually function past the level of a sparkling. Now go back into recharge, your body is still recovering."

The blue seeker blinked up at the Autobot medic, confused by his statement for a moment. What had he meant by ' _your little human_?' It took Thundercracker a full minute for the medic's words to make sense to him again, "C-Cal. Callie?"

Ratchet's red helm tilted to the side, a small frown tugging on dove colored lip plates as he studied Thundercracker, "Your human? Don't worry, she's fine. She's been waiting for you to wake up out in the hall way." The medic paused for a moment, considering his next words, "Lennox has been bringing her food and letting his little one play with her sister. They are at least behaving. Don't even know why Prowl allowed Sideswipe to spend any time with the _other_ one."

The medic muttered more to himself than Thundercracker, "He's bad enough as it is, no reason in letting him play with the little thief." Ratchet sighed and shook his helm, "Doesn't matter right now. Go back into recharge Thundercracker, you are safe and your humans are safe. Let your self-repair systems do their job."

Already cycling down his optics, Thundercracker sighed softly as the darkness began to claim him once again. He allowed himself to sink back into the dark bubble of nothingness, to float on the warm comfort he was now filled with knowing that Lucy, Callie and himself were, at least for the time being, safe.

()()()

Thundercracker's entrance to the Autobot's desert base had been a smooth transition; the moment Jetfire's wheels touched the ground within the massive compound, Ratchet had the damaged seeker put on to a stretcher and rushed him to the Autobot's med bay. The now mostly grey Decepticon had been removed from the shuttle's proximity, rushed outside and into the bright orange ship so quickly, it boggled most minds, human and Autobot alike.

Whilst Thundercracker's transition into the Autobot strong hold was a quick, smooth one, Callie's was not.

The moment Thundercracker's damaged form disappeared into the space ship, Ironhide drove the humans out of Jetfire's alt form, easing his way down the ramp and off the run way before allowing the humans to jump out of his own alt form. Callie's feet hit the ground, kicking up dust as she looked at the Autobot/NEST base.

A high chain linked electrical fence with thick spiralling barbed wire stretched out for miles around them, closing in the compound that had been created around the crashed Autobot ship. The ship, that was the brightest orange Callie had ever seen, looked as though it had nosed dived hard into the side of the dessert mountain, burying half of itself into the rock. Around the ship were several hangers, all large enough for several massive planes and fighter jets, had been constructed.

The blonde smirked to herself when she saw that one of the grey hangers had a white washed, hand painted sign that read 'Arielbots Reside Here!' Despite the somewhat shoddy workmanship of the sign, it looked as though someone had put a lot of effort into it as the wording had been carefully painted on to the white wood in almost perfect black letters.

There were other buildings around the ship, most were squat grey buildings that were large enough for a Cybertronion to walk into; each building was equipped with both a human sized door as well as a Cybertronion sized one. Callie wondered what the buildings were used for as she pulled hers and Danny's bags from Ironhide's new box.

The tall blonde took Lucy's hand the moment the girl jumped from the Autobot's alt from, looking around the complex with wide dark blue eyes. Mia and Aleyah each took their own bag from the box, flanking Callie as Ironhide transformed back to his root mode, towering over the humans.

While Aleyah looked at the base with disinterest, her brown eyes lingering on the massive army helicopters for only a moment, Mia's bright green eyes looked around with the same childlike excitement as Lucy. The curly haired girl grinned, showing off perfectly straight (courtesy of braces) white teeth, "This is so cool!"

Aleyah's brown eyes rolled up as she sighed before coming back down to glare at her sister, "Area 51 much?"

Mia turned to look at her dark haired sister, just as Hound came carefully down the ramp, pouting. "Is not." the green eyed girl paused, before adding, "You've never been to Area 51, it could be a massive storage shed for the army's pots and pans and they're just to embarrassed to tell anyone. 'cause you know, aliens are way cooler then pots and pans."

Even Callie turned her head to raise an eyebrow at her younger cousin as Lucy gave her a confused look and Aleyah just sighed. Mia adjusted the strap to her bag, resetting it on her shoulder, "I'm just saying, it could be."

Liz eased her way from Hound's Alt form, coming to stand next to Mia, "Just saying about what?"

"Mia seems to think that Area 51 is actually a hidden base to hide the army's pots and pans." Aleyah's dry voice droned out glaring at her sister as Hound transformed.

Both Hound and Liz stared blankly at the green eyed girl, "I doubt it Mia." The small blonde said eventually, as Sideswipe came to rest beside Hound and opened his door to allow Danny out.

The car thief's small hands latched onto Sideswipe's roof, pulling her small body from his alt form as quickly as she could. Danny stumbled a few steps, her pale skin looking a little green before she hunched over and vomited onto the desert floor.

As Sideswipe transformed, Sunstreaker came down the ramp, coming to stand beside his moronic older brother, "What is she doing?"

The golden mech couldn't keep the disgust from his tone as the small human puked again, her partially digested meal splashing to the ground. Sideswipe frowned a little, canting his helm to the side, "I think she's purging her tanks."

"What did you _do_ to her?" Sunstreaker snapped, not really caring about the human, just looking for a fight with his twin due to his own aggravation.

A look of panic crossed the crimson mech's face at his brother's words, "Nothing! She just went green after takeoff. I didn't do anything."

As the other Autobots and their human allies came to stand around the new comers, allowing Jetfire to transform, Danny continued to trying to stop vomiting.

Callie couldn't stop the snort and smirk when Lennox came up to the girl with a look of concern on his face and asked, "Are you okay Danny?"

Still unable to straighten herself, the car thief gave him the thumbs up and dropped her arm back to her knee. Liz looked up at Hound's confused face, quietly saying, "Danny doesn't like to fly. She gets all sick and panicky when she has to."

Callie managed to contain her giggles to a chuckle as Danny managed to finally straighten up, still looking green she stumbled to where the others stood and taking her bag from her cousin.

"I am so glad that you didn't do that in my alt form." Sideswipe said, sounding far too cheerful and nearly bouncing on his pedes.

Danny shot a dirty look at the front liner and managed to grumble, "Should have. Way to cheerful over that."

Sunstreaker snarled at the human while his brother laughed. Danny sighed, pressing her hands to her belly "And I would soooo not clean out your alt form either. You'd be on your own for that one."

Sideswipe chuckled, grinning down at the human, forgetting about how only a while ago she had killed someone.

The car thief looked at her sisters, choosing to ignore Sideswipe. "When did we eat onions?"

Her sisters made a face at her, Mia's voice echoing how they all felt, "Eww!"

Epps laughed quietly as he and Lennox came to stand with the girls while the other soldiers filed into the orange ship. The Sergeant grinned at Danny, "Don't do so well in the air?"

Shaking her head no, Danny frowned, "We had to go across country once, and they had to sedate me for it. The flight was under an hour."

Callie ignored Danny, looking to Lennox, "When can I see Thundercracker?"

The NEST captain looked surprised at the blonde while Optimus shifted slightly uncomfortably behind him. The Prime cleared his throat, drawing Callie's attention to him, "Callie, I don't think it would be wise to allow you to see Thundercracker at the moment."

"Of course not." The blonde snapped, "He's being repaired. But when he's fixed, I want to see to him."

Aleyah managed to hide her laugh with a poorly produced cough while both Lennox and Epps raised brows at the blonde. Only years of dealing with the twins kept the surprise from Optimus's optics, "I still do not think that it is wise to allow you to see Thundercracker then ether. He is still a Decepticon Callie, a dangerous one at that. He could hurt-"

Whatever the Prime was about to say, was cut off from Callie's hard voice snapping, "If he was going to hurt me, he'd have done it. He has had plenty of opportunity."

"What do you plan on accomplishing with speaking with Thundercracker?" Prowl's monotone voice rang out, drawing the blonde's attention to him instead.

Looking up at the Autobot SIC, Callie considered her words, "He is still my friend and I just want to...I don't know, have some sort of closure before you shove him back to Nemesis. I just want to talk to him."

The tactician regarded the human, his tall frame still, even his door wings were still. Optimus watched his SIC, no doubt the door winger was going through scenarios for the best outcome for everyone.

Eventually, Prowl's cool blue optics met Optimus'. "I do not see any harm in allowing her to say good bye. There is only a zero point two percent chance of him actually using her as a bargaining chip or actually harming her."

Callie's dark blue eyes went wide in angered shock. Her jaw dropped down as she shot the stony Praxian a dirty look. Sputtering for a moment, Callie managed to snap, "He's not going to hurt me!"

Prowl ignored the human while Optimus sighed, "We shall see Callie. Ratchet has many repairs to do and we need to get you settled."

Lennox nodded in agreement, "We need to find you rooms and tell the brass of your presence here and maybe, get the full story of what happened in L.A."

His tone was light and friendly; it had Callie instantly on edge. "Fine." The blonde snapped, "I will do whatever you want, but I want to talk to TC when he wakes up."

"We'll see what we can do." Lennox promised, shifting uncomfortably.

Mirage, who had taken up his post by Hound's side, suddenly said "Mearing is coming, she looks unhappy."

Lennox sighed and Epps muttered, "She's never happy."

Optimus stood a little taller as the small, angry blonde woman with thick black glasses came storming up to the soldiers. Her magnified blue eyes glared at the group of girls that huddled in the middle of the loose circle of Autobots and NEST commanders.

Behind her, a small harassed looking assistant rushed to keep up with the woman's purposeful march. Callie, Aleyah and even Mia stood a little taller as she approached, all sensing the anger that came off the woman in thick waves.

Liz looked nervously around at her sisters, pressing her small body behind Mia's taller form. Danny, still feeling sick from the flight, groaned and held her head in her hands as she tried to get the spinning to stop.

The woman called Mearing had marched across the desert sand, glaring at Callie and her family the whole way before she came to stand in front of the Autobots. Narrowing her blue eyes on the girls, Mearing jabbed a finger to Callie, "What is this! Whatever happened to proper protocol? Last time I checked, bringing in strays and Decepticons was not part of the proper protocol of this base!"

Callie's dark blue eyes narrowed and she heard Aleyah snarl from her side. It was however, Optimus that took a knee, crouching over the human femmes almost protectively, "Mearing, these human's are in need of our protection. I cannot in good faith, allow them to be terminated because of their decision to aid a Decepticon."

Guilt washed over Callie at the Prime's words. It had not been her cousins that had helped Thundercracker, it had been her. It had been her choice that had brought them all here. The blonde shoved those thoughts away; she would not let this old hag make her regret her decision to help the seeker. It was done and over with, they just had to deal with the consequences now.

Callie straightened her shoulders; as long as Optimus Prime was willing to defend them, she wouldn't let this women, or anyone, push her around. Around her, Callie's cousins did the same, their bodies straightening, shoulders coming high, with the exception of Danny. Her nausea twisted her stomach into knots and a distinct urge to vomit again rose from the middle of her belly.

Mearing scowled up at the Prime, crossing her thin arms over her chest. "There is still proper protocol that must be followed! You do not just bring a handful of _girls_ to a secret base! Key word there, _secret_!"

Optimus took a breath, gathering his patience and even Callie felt bad for the Prime at having to deal with this woman. Callie was sure that if given half a chance, even she would want to take a swing at her.

"It is our ship." Prowl's cool, crisp voice bit out, as monotone as ever, "If we wish to offer aid to those who are in need of it, then we maintain the right to."

A few of the Autobots snorted and smirked around their SIC, but Prowl didn't twitch. If his Prime wanted to help the little human femmes, then they would help the little human femmes.

Mearing's dark gaze shifted from Optimus to Prowl. The door winger regarded the human with his ever cold look, not backing down or willing to be cowed from the United State's Director of National Intelligence.

Mearing drew herself up just a little taller, hands on her hips, "Regardless, there is still a little thing called paper work and protocol that _must_ be adhered to. Bringing a handful of little girls here is not proper protocol."

Indignation raced through Callie at being called a little girl. She really, really disliked this woman.

Prowl's door wings twitched, ever so slightly higher, thoroughly insulted at the insinuation that _he_ did not follow protocol, "The paper work would have been impossible to complete prior to bringing them here, due to the fact we did not have all the information we needed. Your paper work will be completed now that we do."

The cold words would have had most human's shrink in on themselves and let the situation go. Mearing on the other hand, was not that kind of person, "Look at this one!" she suddenly snapped, grabbing Danny by the shoulder, giving a small shake, "She looks like she's going to keel over at any moment! That will take _our_ resources and medicine should she decide to stop breathing."

In shaking Danny, Mearing broke the car thief's steady control over her body and all the concentration that had gone into keeping the bile firmly in her stomach was broken, and Danny couldn't help what had happened next. Suddenly she lurched forward, gagging and coughing; vomit bursting forth and hitting Mearing square in the chest, dripping wetly down her white blouse and black blazer. There was a collective gasp from everyone present and even Prowl's door wings shot up high in surprise.

For a moment, no one moved. No one dared to.

Danny, still looking rather sick, clamped her hand over her mouth, her brown eyes widened in shock. Mearing's wide blue ones were locked on the slimy, sickly brown bile that dripped down her black blazer.

Then Sideswipe coughed and Sunstreaker snorted; the red twin giggled and the gold coughed to hide a chuckle. Before any of the Autobot commanders could stop them, the two front liners burst into a fit of laughter. In reality, Sideswipe burst into uncontrollable laughter, Sunstreaker just grinned and chuckled darkly as they watched the slime drip down Mearing's blazer.

Her dark blue eyes shot up to glare darkly up at the twins; her mouth twisted into an angry frown, "It's not funny." The older woman hissed, slowly peeling her hand off of Danny's shoulder.

Danny swayed on her feet, almost falling had she had not been caught by Mia. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, Danny managed a crooked grin, "You're right. It's not funny, it's fucking hilarious."

Epps slammed his hand over his mouth to stop from laughing and Lennox fought the grin but failed to hide it completely.

As Mearing stuttered and huffed, Sideswipe laughed above them. The crimson front liner doubled over, pressing his servos to his knees and laughed until tears of lubricant prickled his optics.

The Director glowered at the Autobot then the girl that had the nerve to vomit on her. Bringing herself as tall as she could, Mearing pinned Optimus with a dark look, "I need the paper work on these girls immediately."

Without another word, the Director turned on the balls of her feet and stormed away, Sideswipe's laughter following her all the way back to the ship.

Epps' laughter finally burst forth once Mearing was out of hearing rang, "That was fantastic." The sergeant managed to say as he came to stand on Danny's other side. Tilting his head, grin still in place, Epps looked at Mia and Danny, "Want some help?"

Mia beamed a smile at the Sergeant, "Thanks."

Still grinning, Epps took Danny's bag and slung it over his shoulder before taking Danny's arm to support her weight. The car thief nodded in thanks as they hobbled towards the space ship, "Nice ship. It's a little buried."

Epps laughed again, " _The Ark_ might be a little bit Earth bound, but she's still a bad ass ship. Come on, we'll get you washed up and find you a place to lie down."

Danny nodded again, Mia grinning when she asked, "We get to use the showers?"

Epps frowned at her excited tone, confused, "Sure. Why?"

Mia actually squealed, nearly dancing as they walked to the _Ark_ , "I've been sharing a single shower with five other girls for the past six months!"

Epps laughed, leading an unusually quiet Danny and a very excited Mia to the ship, happily explaining how the Autobots had to upgrade certain parts of the _Ark_ to make it more compatible for human living.

Callie watched her cousins walk to the _Ark_ with a dark, almost worried frown. Mia always found a way to be happy, saw the good in the worse situations. All Callie could think of was what she was going to say to Thundercracker when she got the chance.

Lennox cleared his throat, drawing the blonde's attention to him. Awkwardly, the NEST Commander held out a hand to her, offering comfort in the only way he could. Callie glared at him and instead she picked Lucy up, storming after her cousins. Lennox sighed, defeated, dropping his arm back to his side as he hurried after the girl. At the very least he needed to show them to their temporary rooms.

Aleyah and Liz followed Callie and Lennox; Liz still tried to make herself as small as possible as she followed behind her braver, older sister.

Hound fell in a slow stride beside Liz and Aleyah, the green mech grinning down at the small blonde, "Don't worry Liz, you and your family will be safe here. No one will hurt you as long as you're at this base."

The trackers soft kind words managed to get a smile from Liz as they headed into the _Ark_. Neither the humans nor the green Autobot noticed how Mirage suddenly stiffened, his fists balling as Hound walked the humans to the ship. The noble took a deep intake of air, gathering patience and released the fists he hadn't meant to make. The blue Ligier relaxed his frame, regaining his distant, aloof attitude before moving to follow the others to the ship.

One by one the other Autobots began to drift back to the _Ark_ , leaving the Autobot commanders alone. As Optimus watched the human femmes disappear into their ship, the Prime sighed. He retracted his battle mask to scrub at his face as Jazz came to one side of their Prime, Prowl on the other and Ironhide behind. Sighing again, Optimus gently asked, "What could Callie possibly say to Thundercracker?"

From behind the Prime, Ironhide shrugged, "Don't know Prime, but I'm curious to know what she'll say. Do you think that it will be safe with him?"

As the commanders and weapons specialist began the short trek to the ship's entrance, Prowl's door wings perked up, his blue optics narrowing in on the twins as they tried to slip into the _Ark_ unnoticed. Even from a distance Prime could see they were arguing over their bond.

"Sideswipe," the Autobot's SIC's hard voice bit out, causing the crimson front liner to freeze, "Be in my office in five Earth minutes. Sunstreaker, ensure he gets there."

The gold mech nodded to his SIC, his face plates as grim as always. Sideswipe wilted and frowned, refusing to meet Prowl's optics. He knew he would have to face his SIC eventually but he had been hoping to escape for a few moments before he had to.

Apparently Primus was not smiling down on the front liner today.

As the twins entered the _Ark_ , Sideswipe sulking and Sunstreaker guarding him like a turbohawk, Prowl relaxed beside the Prime, "Ironhide is correct. We need to know what may be said between Callie and Thundercracker." At not only the Prime's confused look, but Jazz's as well, Prowl continued, "We still have no idea if these humans can be trusted. For all we know they are Decepticon sympathisers that will attempt to sabotage our defenses."

Optimus frowned at the door winger and Ironhide snorted from behind, "Yer starting to sound like Red Alert there Prowl."

The Praxian's door wing twitched, "Regardless. We cannot take that chance. I believe in allowing Callie to say good bye to Thundercracker, preferably somewhere where we can listen in, we will ensure that they are indeed in need of our help. Perhaps even get the real story of what happened in the four days Callie was with Thundercracker that lead to such a tight bond between the two."

"So," Jazz said slowly, "Ya agreed ta allow this...Callie ta say good bye ta Thundercracker just so that we can ensure they ain't goanna betray us?"

Prowl considered his mate's words before nodding, "Essentially, yes."

Jazz whistled lowly, "That's cold Prowler."

Prowl shrugged, "It's logical. We need to know if these new humans are a threat to us. What better way is there to ensure this than listening to what they have to say to each other?"

Optimus sighed. As much as he hated the idea of infringing on another's privacy, Prowl was right. They simply needed to know if these new humans were going to betray them. The safety of his men and his allies were first priority in the Prime's mind.

"Very well Prowl," The Prime said, "as much as I hate to say it, you are correct in your reasoning. I shall see to it that Red Alert has the security system in the medbay prepped for surveillance."

Prowl nodded, knowing the reason Optimus offered to deal with Red Alert was to give Prowl a chance to deal with his wayward mechlings, "Thank you Optimus."

The Prime nodded to his SIC in response while Jazz grinned from Primes other side and Prowl couldn't help but wonder why Sunstreaker and (mostly) Sideswipe gave him so much more trouble than Bluestreak ever did.

With that, Prowl marched purposefully to the _Ark_ , Jazz followed in his whimsical way, but the Prime could see that even the saboteur's movements were stiffer then they should have been. Suddenly, Optimus felt very bad for the crimson front liner and was very glad that he was not Sideswipe at that moment.

()()()

Prowl moved quickly through the halls of the _Ark_ , Jazz falling quickly in step beside him, _**"Prowl, calm down."**_

" _ **I am calm."**_ Prowl snapped back to Jazz with an unusual amount of annoyance in his tone as they marched ever closer to his office.

" _ **Ah'm just say'in. Calm down a little. Ah know yer mad at Sides, but just remember he is a fully grown mech and she is only a human."**_

Irritation washed over Jazz just as they came to Prowl's office door. Sighing, the saboteur placed a servo to his mates shoulder to halt his entrance to his office, "They're not scared younglings anymore Prowler. They don't need you to protect them anymore."

Prowl sighed, the only thing close enough to showing emotional exhaustion the tactician could allow, "They may not be scared _mechlings_ any more Jazz but they are emotionally stunted, damaged mechs."

Jazz flinched at his mates harsh words, which conflicted with the feelings of protectiveness and determination that came from Prowl's side of the bond, "It is the truth. They need the discipline that I provide to them for their wrong doings, otherwise they would think they could get away with anything."

The SIC paused before continuing, "Damaged as they are, they are still my mechlings Jazz. Our mechlings really and where you provide the playful outlet, I am their sole disciplinarian." Another pause, "Everything I do for them is out of love Jazz. I want to see them grow and thrive and they must learn boundaries if they are to do that."

Jazz paused and nodded, he understood what Prowl meant. The saboteur suddenly grinned at his ever solemn mate, "But yer irritated 'cause Sides gave ya a good 'ol scare this time."

Prowl sighed as his wings drooped, "Sideswipe has not scared me this badly in many stellercycles."

The admission of truth brought up memories of the last time Prowl had truly been this scared for the twins. The SIC understood the nature of their duties and he had a deep faith that they knew what they were doing out in the field, even when he sent them out on the most dangerous of missions. Prowl knew that they would be hurt and possibly killed but the last time Prowl had honestly been this frightened, was when he had first met the twins.

The memory washed over Prowl quickly and before he could stop it, it entrapped him...

_Prowl stalked slowly down the dark, damp hall of the gladiator's housing wing. He kept his back to the doorless wall, still unsure how the gladiators would react at being liberated by the Autobots. Most within the building had been so badly harmed and abused by the former Autobot council._

_The breaking down and forcing the gladiator pits to become obsolete was the first big move of the new Prime, Optimus. The red and blue mech had been chosen by the Matrix of Leadership after Sentinel Prime had been assassinated as a result of his order for the destruction of Vos._

_If Prowl was honest with himself, he was glad to be rid of the last Prime. He had been a cruel, self-serving mech who was more concerned with staying in power than the mechs it was his duty to protect. The weak, the poor and the injured were nothing but cannon fodder to the past Prime. Of course, thoughts such as this would be considered blasphemy under Sentinel Prime and Prowl would have been executed for even thinking such things. Naturally, however, the threat of execution had not quelled his partner, Jazz's, tongue when it came to his opinion of Sentinel Prime._

_As the Autobot tactician continued his slow trek down the hall, looking for any mechs that were supposed to be residing within, the door wingers thoughts turned to his new Prime. In a way, the Praxian felt a great amount of pity for him, as not long after Vos was obliterated, Optimus became Prime and then Praxus was destroyed in retaliation for Vos. Where Prowl had mourned and even raged at the unnecessary death of his people, Prime had taken the destruction to spark just as deeply as Prowl had. So much responsibility on such a new leader, it was a position that Prowl was glad was not his._

_However, they both agreed that the only good thing that came from the fall of Praxus had been recovering Bluestreak from the ruins._

_Unlike Prowl, every one blamed Optimus Prime for not being able to protect Praxus in its time of need despite the fact he had only risen to the state of Prime merely metacycles prior. While Prowl had leaned on his long time friend and partner, Jazz, Optimus had looked to him for aid and support._

_It had been that support and growth of trust that had aided Prowl to climb to the position of Second in Command. Prowl was good at his job, there was no doubt about that and Jazz firmly believed that there were no better tacticians out there. However it had been the trust that Optimus had developed during the aftermath of Praxus that allowed him to choose his command staff with confidence._

_In an attempt to show that Optimus Prime was nothing like his predecessor, the Prime had ordered that all gladiator pits be abolished and the mechs trapped within the games, freed to make their own choices. The Pit bosses had naturally been upset and unsettled with the Prime's orders and had refused to release the mech's within their possession._

_It had been a test for the Prime and his fledgling command staff. The dark underbelly of Cyberton had challenged the new Autobots, demanding to know how far where they willing to go to for the people of Cyberton._

_Optimus had met the challenge helm on and when negotiations fell through, the Autobots had stormed the Gladiator Pits with a vengeance, determined to free the fighters who were really no more than slaves. The only drawback had been with everyone being so concerned with the damaged warriors, many of the Pit bosses and enforcers had made good their escape._

_This left the Autobots free to slip carefully through the potentially rigged arenas, searching for survivors. Already damaged and frightened mechs had attacked unsuspecting Autobots in what they thought had been a threat, yet the Autobots continued to search, believing in their Primes words of peace and equality._

_There were mechs, and even femmes, within the building that needed assistance and Prowl was determined to find as many as he could. A noise from a joining hall way caused Prowl to pause, tilting his helm to listen for the noise again. His frame tensed, acid blaster firm in his servo as he waited for the potential attack from the dark, dank hall._

_Blue light from a visor blinked on and Jazz melted from the shadows of the hallway, coming to stand with Prowl. His usual grin was replaced with a grim frown as he regarded his partner and SIC._

_The tactician's frame relaxed, his door wings lowering as he realized there was no threat at the moment,_ "One of these days Jazz, you will have to teach me how you do that." _The unemotional voice said to the smaller black and white mech._

 _A small grin fluttered across Jazz's face but was gone just as quickly, the stress of the situation zapping even the ever bubbly personality of the saboteur,_ "We'll have ta see Prowler. Can't give away all mah secrets."

 _Prowl had not heard the leer in his partners tone, far too immersed in the situation at hand,_ "Of course Jazz." _The new Autobot SIC paused as he regarded the equally new TIC,_ "Something is not quite right here Jazz. I have searched this hallway thoroughly and have found nothing. These rooms are not lived in like the Gladiator quarters and they are far too sparse to be the Pit bosses quarters."

 _Jazz nodded in agreement,_ "Ah know. Ah've been get'en the same report from all other agents in this wing of the building. The rooms are small, interrogation rooms maybe?"

 _Prowl frowned, tilting his helm as he considered his partners suggestion, a single fact made the tactician think that was not the case here,_ "Then why is there a berth in each room?"

_Jazz's frown deepened, his visor becoming darker as he considered the possibility. The black and white mech opened his mouth to give another opinion when a soft noise, like a whimper, drew the two Autobot's attention further through the hall._

_The pair tensed, their weapons snapping up at the too soft noise. The hall was empty as it always was and nothing but darkness met them. Noises could be imagined in stressful situations likes these, and Prowl needed to be sure that he had not been hallucinating._

"Did you hear that?" _Came the uncertain question from the tactician._

 _Jazz hesitated before he nodded,_ "Ah did."

_The pair shared a look and slowly began to move down the hall with tactical precision; Prowl's back to the wall and Jazz close to his side._

_As they came to the first door, Jazz tossed a quick glance over his shoulder before slapping the access panel to the door. The door swooshed open, the noise sounding far too loud in the silent hall way._

_The SIC and TIC both gave a small sigh when they found nothing but a berth and darkness within the small room. Prowl nodded his helm, signaling it was time to move on. The saboteur nodded, following close to Prowl's side as they continued to the next door. The second room held nothing, just as the first._

_As the pair came to the third door, Jazz looked over his shoulder to Prowl,_ "Ah bet ya a cube of high grade that there's noth'en in here. We must ta been imagining things."

_Prowl nodded for his partner to open the door, not expecting anything to be behind door number three. Logically they were fairly further along the hall now, so if someone was damaged they would have found them before now._

_When the door flew open neither black and white mech was fully prepared for what they saw. Twin gasps left the Autobots at the sight of the dull red plated mech that hung in the middle of the room; thick metal cuffs clamped tightly around his damaged wrists with a heavy chain attached to the roof._

_Brightly colored energon leaked weakly from too many wounds on the damaged frame, leaving disturbing trails of hot pink across the red armour. It dripped off his pedes with soft pitter-patter splashes into the ever growing pool of energon beneath him. Energon was splattered across the walls, droplets of it spattered thick and thin in every corner._

_Despite the heat in the room Prowl felt his lines run cold and his tanks drop as a chill over took him. Swallowing hard the new Autobot SIC took his first steps into the room, sweeping the small space as quickly as he could. Getting a better look at the brutalized mech, Prowl could see, with tank twisting realisation that whoever had done this had been trying to get at the others spark._

_The red mechs chest plates looked as though someone had tried to peel them open, leaving them half way open and unable to close; pale silver spark light flickered out between the gap in the armour, and even from where he was Prowl could see small flecks of black._

_Horrified, terrified, Prowl moved his optics further along the mechs frame and could sense Jazz doing the same. Dents littered the bulky frame from what looked like a massive beating and side plating looked as though someone had attempted to tear it right from his body._

_The absolute worst however, was the half peeled back interface panel between the mech's thighs. It looked as though whoever had hurt the mech had been in a hurry and never finished the job. No doubt due to the Autobots infiltration of the Pits._

_Prowl could only thank Primus that the abusers hadn't gotten that far._

_Swallowing the sudden lump in his throat, Prowl slowly moved closer to the unconscious mech. Jazz hissed from behind him unhappily,_ "Careful Prowl. Don't think he's going ta be overly happy ta see Autobots."

_The tactician nodded without looking back, continuing his ever slow movement to the center of the room. Hyper aware to the fact that Jazz was standing guard at the door, ready to shoot any threat to them and that included the injured mech, Prowl was resolved to be the calming force in the situation._

_He lowered his weapon and slowly raised his servo to touch the cheek plate of the damaged mech. His digits barley brushed the too cool metal when bright blue optics snapped online. Startled, Prowl pulled his servo and took a step back._

_Panic flooded the red mech's optics as the blue orbs fell on the red Autobot symbol on Prowl's frame. He gasped and with strength Prowl didn't think the other had left, began kicking out, cursing as he did,_ "Slagging Autobot fraggers! Get away from me! You Pit slagging, motherboard, bit processing, glitches! Stay away from me!"

_The red mech kicked helplessly at Prowl and Jazz swiftly came into the room; the special ops officer's visor was dark blue, his weapon trained on the prisoner. As far as he was concerned, it was Jazz's duty to protect Prowl from any and all threats._

"Sunny! SUNNY! HELP!" _The mech suddenly screeched, his vociliser cracking in distress. Calm as ever, Prowl raised his servo to grip the barrel of Jazz's gun and forced it down._

 _The other black and white shot Prowl an alarmed look to which Prowl barley shook his helm in response. Taking a deep intake of air, Prowl subspace his blaster and raised his empty servos in surrender,_ "That's enough." _His cool, calm voice snapped out, just loud enough to be heard over the mech's cries for help._

 _It startled the other into quieting, yet the deep seated fear in his optics remained. The red mechs frame tensed as Prowl took a step closer, his servos still raised._ "I am here with Optimus Prime. We want to help you. May I touch you to get you down?"

 _Blue optics darted wildly around the room, not really focusing in on Prowl, so the tactician tried again,_ "We are here to help you. My designation is Prowl. May I touch you?"

_The red mechs optics suddenly locked on him, fear and confusion bleeding through as they bore into Prowl. The tactician was unwavering, steady and calm under the harsh gaze of the other._

_Eventually the other swallowed hard and nodded once. Prowl closed the space between them quickly, coming face to face with the other._

"I am going to wrap my arm around your waist so that you do not fall. Then I will unlock the cuffs." _His voice came out in the same smooth tenor that seemed to be calming to the other. Yet Prowl did not move to touch until the red mech gave a quick nod of understanding._

_Setting to work, Prowl firmly ignored the uncomfortable noise from Jazz and wrapped his arm around the others waist, pulling him closer and getting a flinch for his efforts. As the black and white mech reached up to unlock the cuffs, he could feel the red mech pressing his thighs together uncomfortably and squirming._

_Needing him to be still and wanting to calm him, Prowl knew he needed a distraction,_ "What is your designation?"

 _The other looked startled to be asked such a question and as his first wrist was unlocked he managed to whisper,_ "Sideswipe."

 _Sideswipe's arm came down heavily on Prowl's much smaller shoulder, leaning heavily on the Autobot. The tactician nodded as he reached up to unlock the other,_ "What was going on here Sideswipe?"

 _The red mech shuttered as his other wrist was released; it too landed heavily on Prowl's shoulders. Unable to stay standing with the other leaning so heavily on him, Prowl slowly lowered them to the floor, never releasing his hold on Sideswipe. Looking over his shoulder, the tactician gave a sharp order to Jazz,_ "Comm. Ratchet. Get him here now."

 _The saboteur nodded,_ "Ah'm already on it Prowler."

 _Drowsily the red mech suddenly slid down Prowl's frame, resting his helm on the tactician's chest. He quietly answered,_ "They caught us when we were mechlings. We-we were big for our a-age. Made us fight."

 _Damaged black digits suddenly clung to Prowl and his promise of help. He began panting, his fans working hard to cool his damaged frame,_ "Too good. W-we were too good. Forced us into the breeding programme when we upgraded to our mech frames. Wanted more fighters like us."

 _Sideswipe suddenly winced as he tried to close his chest panels to protect his spark, but was unable to. Confused, pain filled optics turned up to Prowl,_ "Hurts."

_Confused on what to do, Prowl turned helplessly to Jazz for advice. His partner was much better at this sort of thing, while he just sort of stumbled through it._

_Jazz, however, was in a deep conversation over the comm. line. Hopefully with Ratchet, but it left the emotionally distant Prowl on his own to comfort the damaged mech. Turning back to Sideswipe and his hurting optics, he sighed softly._

_Moving slowly, Prowl awkwardly wrapped his arms a little tighter around Sideswipe's frame. Fear gnawed restlessly at the tactician as more fluids seeped from the damaged frame. Unsure if it was the right thing, or even the appropriate thing, to do, Prowl carefully moved his servo to rest on top of the black helm._

_Stroking the others helm, Prowl made sure to avoid the nasty crack in his forehelm, his cool voice soothing to Sideswipe's damaged audios,_ "I know Sideswipe. It will be alright. Our medic is on his way and he will give you something for the pain. Just hang on a little longer."

_Sideswipe groaned, curling a little further into Prowl's warm frame as his shuttered in pain. His optics dimmed as his digits curled further into the edges of Prowl's armour, clinging to the Autobot like a life line._

_The black and white mech's servos were gentle on the damaged frame as Jazz continued in his attempt to hail Ratchet. If Prowl was a betting mech, he would have put good cred's on the fact the saboteur was having a hard time doing so._

_The red mech shifted in Prowl's hold, groaning as he did. His dull blue optics blinked online, looking up at the tactician,_ "Prowl."

 _The weak voice drew the tactician's optics back to the damaged gladiator. Energon trickled from a cracked bottom lip plate. Prowl frowned at it, his tanks churning. Sideswipe couldn't afford to lose even a single drop in his current state and the tactician knew he should be doing something to comfort the pit fighter._ "What is it Sideswipe?"

 _Prowl didn't mean to be so harsh, internally he cringed at his own lifeless tone but it was near impossible to be anymore gentle. Sideswipe however focused in on Prowl and a crooked smile spread across his face, seemingly happy that Prowl was simply paying attention; the grin faded as the gladiator sighed,_ "Can you find my twin? Something is wrong with him."

_Prowl felt his body tense. Twins were rare even before the war began, and were considered to be bad luck. Naturally Prowl knew that such rumors were nonsense and nothing more than cruel prejudiced against something most mechs didn't understand. Many had tried to understand that bond and none had succeeded._

_Logically, Prowl ignored the foolishness of others but knew that if something happened to his twin, Sideswipe could and would go down with him. An unfortunate side effect of the twin bond._

_If Prowl wanted to save Sideswipe's life and ensure his safety, he would have to find the missing twin._

_Stilling his servo atop of Sideswipe's dark helm, Prowl looked down at the younger mech,_ "I will find him Sideswipe," _Prowl promised, determined to see this survivor live,_ "What is his designation?"

 _The red mech managed a crooked grin up at the Autobot,_ "Sunstreaker."

 _Nodding, the tactician turned his back to Jazz,_ "Have you hailed Ratchet yet?"

 _The saboteur's visor flashed as he sighed,_ "Nothing yet. A'm still try'en. The comm. lines are all jammed up something fierce."

 _Prowl sighed, shifting his grip on the gladiator in his arms,_ "I thought the pit bosses might have jamming signals within the building. No one can call for help that way." _Prowl paused for a moment, shifting Sideswipe again into a more comfortable position,_ "Jazz help me get him onto the berth."

_Sighing, the saboteur gave a quick nod before quickly moving to Prowl's side. The gladiator was much larger, heavier then both Autobots and it took their combined efforts to just get the damaged frame to stand. Both Prowl and Jazz huffed as they helped the red armoured mech to the berth; Sideswipe could no longer stay on his pedes and hung nearly limp between them. The two Autobots panted and their fans whirled hard as they dragged the damaged mech to the berth._

_The going was slow and Sideswipe slipped on his own spilt energon more times than either Autobot was willing to admit to. Only their unwavering physical support and encouraging words kept Sideswipe upright and moving. Finally the trio made it to the berth, all three panting and feeling weak from the tiny trek. Prowl and Jazz tried to lower the gladiator down gently but being so much larger than the other two, Sideswipe collapsed heavily onto the hard berth._

_His already damaged armour clanked hard down onto the metal berth; there was no mat to cushion the almost fall of the larger mech. Sideswipe groaned and winced as the sudden impact jolted his damaged armor, his legs hanging over the side of the berth. He tried wearily to lift them onto the berth but simply couldn't find the strength to even pull them up that far._

_Jazz moved to help him raise his legs to the berth but stopped, going perfectly still when Sideswipe hissed and jerked his legs away. The red mech's optics were bright with fear as he tried desperately to lift them on his own, not wanting Jazz to touch his frame anymore than he already had._

_The saboteur frowned for a moment before taking in the damaged interface hatch. Venting softly, Jazz slowly moved away, putting his servos up in surrender,_ "It's alright my mech. Not gonna touch ya if ya don't want me ta. Just calm down."

 _Sideswipe never took his optics from Jazz as he tried again to pull his legs up to the berth on his own until Prowl stepped in,_ "Sideswipe, I am going to pick your legs up. You are going to damage yourself if you continue like this."

_The red mech's optics swung back to Prowl, the fear melting at seeing the calm pale face and bright red chevron. Again, Prowl never moved to touch Sideswipe until the red mech nodded. Moving quickly, Prowl eased his white servos around the dented red leg armor and lifted. Sideswipe shifted as Prowl moved his legs onto the berth, stretching his battered frame out._

_As Sideswipe curled onto his side, Prowl crouched down low, looking the red mech in the optic,_ "I am going to find Sunstreaker. I shall leave you in Jazz's care until I return and I expect you to do as he says until I do."

 _The dull blue optics brightened in fear at the prospect of his rescuer leaving him. Not knowing what else to do, Prowl reached out a servo, resting it on the dull red shoulder plate,_ "I am not leaving you Sideswipe. I will be right back."

_The ever cool and collected tone soothed the fear in Sideswipe's spark and it allowed the gladiator to trust that the Autobot would come back for him once his twin was found. Swallowing hard, Sideswipe nodded, hating how weak and pitiful he felt._

_He should have been able to protect his twin and not relying on another to save him, especially the Autobots, they had caused so much pain in their lives; maybe the new Prime was better. Even this Autobot called Prowl was better than the others that normally skulked around the Pits._

_Despite the cold, too calm quality of Prowl's tone, his clear blue optics had softened when he looked at Sideswipe. It wasn't pity for the gladiator, it was concern. That alone had prompted the red mech to ask Prowl to find his missing twin._

_Swallowing again, Sideswipe managed to speak, his voice cracking and shorting out from the damage,_ "I-I'll be g-goood. Pleeease fi-ind Sunny."

 _Prowl nodded, gently squeezing the shoulder plate under his servo. Just as quickly as the tactician had crouched, he gracefully stood to his full height. His door wings swept back and high as he turned to face his companion,_ "Jazz. I am going to find Sideswipe's twin. Stay with him until I return."

 _The door winger abruptly spun away from his concerned partner, missing the look of shock that border lined on panic that crossed the others face. The horned mech darted forward, catching Prowl's servo in his own,_ "Yer not gonna go alone are ya? It's too dangerous ta be wandering the halls around here Prowler."

 _The Praxian sighed as he straightened a little, facing Jazz,_ "We need to find his twin Jazz. The longer we stand around idle the less chance we have of finding him." _The tactician paused before adding,_ "Don't call me Prowler Jazz, you know very well my designation is Prowl."

 _The saboteur very nearly growled at his partner,_ "Ya could be dead if ya go wandering around this complex alone Prowler. It's not safe."

 _Prowl sighed softly as he gently brushed Jazz's servo from his frame,_ "We need to find the twin Jazz. Both lives are at stake here and I will not permit either to perish because of our lack of courage."

 _Jazz actually flinched at his partners harsh words, but did not back down,_ "It's still not safe! The kid will be fine here alone 'till we return."

_Prowl glanced over Jazz's shoulder to look at Sideswipe and fought another sigh. The red mech was staring at him with weak dull blue optics that were full of fear and unease. The tactician knew his partner was just concerned for his wellbeing but right now what Prowl needed, was Jazz to protect Sideswipe until he returned._

"Jazz," _Prowl began calmly,_ "I understand that we are partners and that you worry for me because of that." _The tactician didn't understand why his partner's look suddenly went from determined to crest fallen, but Prowl ignored it,_ "But right now I need you to protect Sideswipe as though he were me. I will not be long in finding his twin and I shall return quick enough."

_Jazz frowned and his servos twitched as though he longed to do something with them but was unsure of what. Prowl stood perfectly still as he watched his partners internal debate; did he stay or did he go?_

_Prowl made the decision easy for him,_ "I'll make it an order if I have to."

 _Jazz snorted as he crossed his arms over his chest,_ "Ya know I'd follow ya any way. But fine, Ah'll stay wit' the kid until ya return. If ah don't hear from ya wit' in half an orn, a'm coming after ya."

 _Prowl nodded once, firmly,_ "Half an orn." _The tactician promised then left the room quickly before Jazz could change his mind._

_Prowl moved quickly through the dark halls of the Pits, his audios turned up high and his frame tense and ready to attack. The acid blaster was held firmly in Prowl's unwavering servos, Sideswipe's fearful optics still firmly in his mind's optic. He had felt afraid for the mech the moment he saw him and it was not a feeling the Autobot felt often. After all, emotion had no place in a chaotic world where logic would safe guard his people much more efficiently._

_Yet, the image of Sideswipe hanging helpless in the middle of the dark, cold room with his energon splattered around the room like a disturbing painting had done something to Prowl. Had twisted something deep in his spark that he preferred to think wasn't there. Prowl felt the same when Jazz was endangered; it was a deep seated worry that caused his tank to twist and his spark to flutter uncomfortably._

_Pushing the feeling aside, Prowl focused on his mission at hand; finding Sunstreaker._

_Door after door was opened. Room after room was cleared. All dark, clean and empty. Part of Prowl was relieved; a small part of him hoping that maybe the twin had gotten away, however the ever logical Prowl knew that Sunstreaker was here...somewhere._

_Stats said that eventually Prowl would find Sunstreaker, he just hoped that he wasn't in as bad as the condition they found Sideswipe in._

_It was much worse._

_It was near the end of his half orn time frame when Prowl found Sunstreaker. The room, unlike all the others, was brightly lit. The hot lights beamed almost blinding white, reflecting off the dark walls in a way that burned the optic._

_Strapped spread-eagled on a berth in the middle of the room was the yellow mech that had to be Sunstreaker. Prowl fought the hiss that rose from his chest as he looked at the damaged frame that lay helpless on the berth. Just like Sideswipe, Sunstreaker had been beaten; his yellow frame was full of dents and energon leaked from wounds almost on every part of his frame._

_Unlike Sideswipe, Sunstreaker's chest plating had been ripped away completely; one half lay crumpled across the room while the other half lay bent by the berth. His silver spark flickered erratically behind the crystal of his undamaged spark chamber._

_His wrists and ankles were rubbed raw down to the bare wires from the heavy cuffs that clamped him to the berth while a thick trail of energon flowed steadily down the gladiator's chin as he stared blankly at the lights. Prowl quickly swept his optics around the room to ensure he was alone before he approached the damaged mech to get a better look at his injuries._

_His jaw hung loosely open and his dull blue optics were unseeing and unfocused; Prowl knew right away that the mech had been drugged. No doubt to ensure he was compliant while the abusers did whatever they wanted._

_Prowl didn't think it could have gotten any worse but that was of course when it did. The tactician knew that whoever had been there had gotten what they were after when he spotted the gladiators ruined valve; who ever had hurt him had been brutal if the puddle of energon between this thighs was any indication._

_Feeling half processed energon rising from his intakes, Prowl forced himself to swallow, pushing the bile back down along with the lump in this throat. Taking a deep breath to calm his suddenly flickering spark, Prowl turned his gaze back up to the yellow mech's blank face. Moving slowly and careful not to touch him, the smaller mech leaned over the damaged gladiator,_ "Sunstreaker, can you hear me?"

_The cool, gentle voice drew the dull, blank blue optics to the Autobot's face, his optics instantly going to the other's chevron, but not able to focus._

_Prowl frowned as he subspaced his weapon. He knew he needed to be careful with this mech; he had the damages, the trauma and drugs working against him. Again, the Autobot tried to get the gladiator to focus,_ "Sunstreaker, I'm going to unlock the cuffs. You are safe now. Please do not panic."

_The yellow mech just continued to stare blankly at the bright red chevron with his dozy, dopy optics. An uncomfortable feeling settled deep in Prowl's chest, but he forced it away. Sunstreaker needed his help, not doubt._

_Still moving slowly, Prowl unlocked the cuffs that bound the gladiator's ankles and wrists. Despite it being an unnatural thing for the tactician, Prowl spoke in a low gentle tone to Sunstreaker the whole time. He did nothing without explaining to the yellow mech what he was doing, the whole time his voice was even and calm. Not once did the gladiator pull his optics from the red chevron as the black and white mech moved._

_The process was smooth, if not a bit slow as Prowl did nothing without explaining first. It wasn't until the last shackle was unlatched did Sunstreaker do something other than stare blankly at Prowl._

_The big mech suddenly lunged at Prowl, moving faster and with far more agility then the tactician would have guessed for a mech in his state could have. The yellow gladiator tackled Prowl to the ground, using his superior size and weight to pin the smaller mech under him. The Autobot swallowed the yelp of pain as his doorwings spread in an awkward and painful way as he was pinned to the ground, the joints stretching out too far as the heavier weight pinned him._

_A small part of Prowl internally winced, knowing how much that movement had to hurt, how brightly his spark shone and flickered in panic. The silver light flooded over Prowl's chest armor as the bigger mech leaned down close to snarl at him. His optics, although still held a drugged look to them, had cleared to lethal awareness. A little bit of energon mixed with oral lubricants as Sunstreaker growled at the Praxian, dripped in heavy wet bubbles on Prowl's face._

_Strong servos clamped down hard onto Prowl's wrists, pinning his servos to the ground, either side of his helm,_ "Ssslaging Autobot scum."

 _The gladiator's words were slurred and full of static as he glared down at the tactician,_ "I-I could kill you right now."

_Prowl stared calmly back at Sunstreaker, noticing that with each passing moment the gladiator's strength weakened, seeping from his frame as he fought against the drugs in his system. His battle computer barley had to work to figure out how quickly Prowl could have overcome the gladiator. Yet, Prowl didn't. He needed Sunstreaker to trust him, if only marginally, so that he could reunite him with his twin. Prowl would not complete that mission if Sunstreaker fought him every step of the way._

"Sunstreaker, my designation is Prowl. Your brother, Sideswipe, sent me to find you."

 _Confusion slowly seeped into the gladiator's optics and he slowly released his grip on the Autobot's wrists,_ "Sides?"

 _Prowl managed to sit up, pulling his upper body higher to come face to face with Sunstreaker, his door wings stinging as they came back into their almost proper position._ "Yes. Sideswipe sent me."

_The yellow mech blinked dumbly at Prowl, suddenly feeling very tired and weak as the horrors of what had occurred not that long ago, caught up with him. Sunsreaker didn't know this mech, shouldn't trust him yet Sides had sent him._

_That was enough for Sunstreaker._

_Shuttering in pain, the yellow mech whispered his twins name before he collapsed back down onto Prowl. The Autobot grunted as the larger body fell into him, but Prowl managed to stay upright as Sunstreaker's helm dropped onto his chest._

_Again, not knowing if it was appropriate or wanted, Prowl held the larger mech to his smaller frame loosely. He was afraid if he held on to tight it would send the yellow gladiator into another fit that his frame could not take._

_Gentle, cool words had helped calm Sideswipe and Prowl could only hope that it worked for Sunstreaker as well. The large yellow frame trembled in pain yet the mech didn't make a single noise. Nor did he cling to Prowl like Sideswipe had but allowed himself be held as pain washed over his sensor net once the action had tapered off._

"You are safe Sunstreaker." _Prowl started awkwardly but he tried none the less,_ "No one will hurt you like this again. I promise." _Prowl was a mech of his word, he kept his promises._

"If you can stand, I'll take you to your brother." _Prowl said softly, keeping his servos still but firm on the yellow mech's damaged frame._

 _At the prospect of getting to see his brother, Sunstreaker perked up. His helm came up to look up at Prowl with cold optics, his frame still trembling._ "I wanna see Sides,"

 _Again, the words were slurred and his movements unsteady as Sunstreaker tried to get up. Prowl managed to stop the yellow mech long enough to say,_ "Slowly Sunstreaker."

 _His words were promptly ignored as the gladiator nearly shot to his pedes. He swayed, practically falling over only to be saved by Prowl, who had also shot up to steady the gladiator,_ "Slowly Sunstreaker."

 _Still swaying on his pedes and hurting far more then he was willing to admit, Sunstreaker nodded,_ "Slow." _He managed to agree._

_The walk back to Sideswipe was slow and Prowl's half orn had long passed by the time he and Sunstreaker had managed to stumble back to the red twin's prison. They had only made it with the use of the walls that Sunstreaker had been forced to use as leverage as he and Prowl had taken the slow walk, the whole way Prowl speaking in low, soft tones, trying desperately to ignore the energon that leaked down the others thighs._

_They did however, manage to make it back to Sideswipe. Jazz was pacing the room by the time they got back and Prowl could tell by the look on his face, that he was worried and scared for his partner. The moment he saw Sunstreaker's condition, his aggravation died away in exchange for concern._

_The Autobot's TIC's jaw dropped open and his visor flashed when he spotted the damaged frame that was Sunstreaker,_ "Prowl?" _the question came out as almost a whine._

_The door winger ignored his partner, carefully leading the yellow twin back to his brother, Sunstreaker nearly trying to pull the healthy mech along to get to him. Prowl helped the yellow mech to his brothers berth where Sideswipe was already reaching out for his other half._

_The moment the twins were in servo distance from each other, Sideswipe grabbed at Sunstreaker's arm at the same time Sunstreaker reached out for his brother. The yellow mech gave a strangled whine as he allowed himself to be dragged down to his brother's comforting embrace. Prowl helped Sunstreaker lay down as Sideswipe pulled his twin close, tucking the yellow frame close to his own._

_Sunstreaker shuttered in pain as he tucked his face into the neck of his twin and Sideswipe curled around his damaged twin. The twins promptly ignored the two Autobots in favor of clinging to each other in their pain._

_Prowl spun to face Jazz,_ "We need Ratchet here now."

 _The saboteur managed to drag his visor covered optics from the horrifying scene before him,_ "There's still a block on the comm.'s Ah can go find him."

 _Prowl took another glance at the shuttering mess on the berth,_ "It would be best. They need medical attention immediately."

_Jazz nodded and with one last concerned look to both the twins and his partner, the saboteur was gone. Secure in the knowledge that Prowl, his partner, would be safe until he returned with Ratchet._

_Standing awkwardly in the middle of the room, Prowl stared at the twins as they shuttered and clung to each other. Soft words were whispered back and forth while the occasional kiss was pressed against damaged armour. The tactician averted his optics when Sideswipe suddenly pressed his twin back a little to nudge Sunstreaker's thighs apart to properly inspect the damage. The red twin winced at what he saw, causing Sunstreaker to snarl and press his legs back together._

_Sideswipe looked back up at his twin, the movement drawing Prowl's optics back to them. Again, the Autobot was at a loss of what to do. He could feel his battle computer heating up as he tried to figure out what the appropriate course of action would be; yet Prowl felt as though he should do nothing at all._

_He felt that he was intruding on something very private and intimate, something he of all mechs should not bear witness to. Again, Prowl adverted his optics when Sideswipe leaned in to press a soft kiss to his twins forehelm, the red mechs optics soft with worry. A choked off whimper brought the Autobot's optics to the sad, sad scene before him._

_Sideswipe had managed to heave himself up partly, leaning on his elbow as he looked down at Sunsreaker, worry and fear clearly etched across his face. The yellow mech clung to his twin, his helm down and his shoulders heaving in silent sobs._

_Prowl stood, transfixed as he watched the twins curled in their cocoon of pain. He watched as Sideswipe forgot his own pain in favor of fretting over Sunstreaker's, his worry bleeding away to despair at not being able to make his brother better._

_A damaged black servo came to rest across yellow shoulder plates as Sideswipe drew his brother in close again; a soft hitching of intakes told the story to everyone present that Sunstreaker was still sobbing._

_That did it, as awkward as he might be, Prowl was not going to stand by and allow these two to continue suffering, not when he could provide some form of comfort and for a moment, Prowl whished Jazz was still there. He was so much more efficient at this sort of thing than he._

_Ruthlessly shoving those thoughts aside, Prowl berated himself; the twins needed Ratchet more then they needed comfort from Jazz and the saboteur was the logical one to go find the medic. This, in turn, logically left Prowl to be the one to comfort the twins in their time of need; after all, Sideswipe had trusted Prowl more than Jazz in his panic._

_If Prowl were to follow that logical thought line, he was the best choice to stay behind to comfort the twins._

_That in mind, the black and white mech took a deep breath and slowly approached the berth; Sideswipe had his helm down close to Sunstreaker's audio, quietly humming some random off key tune._

_For the third time that night cycle Prowl felt at a loss of what to do and that feeling of just not knowing bothered Prowl. The tactician liked to know where he stood in a situation, needed to know what was expected of him in a situation. This emotional mumbo jumbo confused the Praxian more than he was willing to admit and he just did not like being confused like this. It made his battle computer and logic center heat up uncomfortably._

_However, as it was, he was the only one left and the only one that Sideswipe had trusted enough to allow a small touch. The red mech has also trusted Prowl enough to search for his missing twin. With that in mind, Prowl closed the rest of the space between himself and the twins in a few steps to gingerly sit on the edge of the berth._

_Sunstreaker's large damaged frame tensed when he sensed another frame that was not his twins so close to him. Sideswipe lifted his dull blue optics to meet Prowl's, worry and fear still so clear in the wide orbs behind the surprise._

_Prowl cleared his throat awkwardly,_ "I am not good at this. Is there anything I can do to ease your pain?"

 _Sideswipe's helm canted as Sunstreaker curled a little further into his twin's frame, desperate to hide his face. Suddenly looking unsure of himself, Sideswipe shifted uncomfortably as his arms tightened around the damaged yellow armour,_ "C- Could you just hold my servo?"

_Blue optics suddenly flooded with embarrassment and dropped to stare hard at the top of Sunstreaker's black helm. Prowl's door wings swept back in surprise, not sure what to make of that request._

_Unease spread through Prowl's spark then; he really didn't know what to do in these situations. Yet, what could such a simple request hurt? Even if Prowl himself didn't understand it, if it brought some comfort, some assurance to the twins, shouldn't Prowl just go ahead and do it? With his back to the door but his sensitive door wings high, Prowl had no problem or worry of someone sneaking up on him. Slowly his white servo reached out towards Sideswipes, taking the black servo tightly in his own._

_Pressing the back of his digits to Sunstreaker's yellow shoulder, the Autobot hoped that it provided comfort to the yellow hued warrior as well._

_Sideswipe sighed contently as he gripped Prowl's servo tightly, squeezing back every time his rescuer squeezed his servo, his optics never leaving Prowl's pale face._

_Sunstreaker shifted between them, turning his helm to look up at the black and white mech, his cold, dark blue optics bore into the tactician as he studied him; the gladiators optics still glossy from his small break down. His optics would also suddenly flicker light blue before fading back into their dark hue and Prowl knew he was still fighting the drugs in his system._

"You're not going to leave us?" _Came the rough, almost grunted question from Sunstreaker, his words slurring._

_Prow's own unwavering gaze held the bigger mech's. Slowly, ensuring that Sunstreaker saw the movement, Prowl raised his other servo and gently laid it on the massive shoulder. Dark blue optics flashed in panic as they flicked to the servo that touched him then back to Prowl's face._

"No one will hurt you like this again and I will not leave you." _Prowl's cool words were soothing to the damaged mechs, where they would have been considered cold to anyone else._

_The twins gazed up at Prowl with a fragile sense of hope, knowing he was their only hope of escape. Knowing they had no choice but to trust him, and that he could very easily hurt them or break that trust._

_After all, the Autobot had no reason to help or protect them._

"I promise you this, I will not allow anyone to harm you like this again and I will not leave you." _And Prowl always kept his promises._

Prowl shoved that memory away. He couldn't afford to be feeling particularly protective of the twins at the moment, especially Sideswipe. The crimson mech would sense that feeling and think it a weakness that he could, and would, try to exploit.

Taking another deep intake of air, Prowl glanced to his grinning bond mate, "You may stop grinning like a fool Jazz."

The saboteur didn't even have the grace to look ashamed but managed to temper his beaming grin down to a smirk. Prowl shook his helm as he muttered, "They were barely out of their mechling bodies, barely adults. They would have been the equivalent to teenagers when they were taken for the pits."

Jazz sighed, taking a step closer to Prowl as the only comfort he could give in such an open area, "Ah know Prowler, Ah know. It wasn't fair what happen ta them."

White servos balled into tight fists as rage suddenly washed over him, "Their creators abandoned them because they were twins, they ran away from the foster care facility because of mistreatment and lived on the street where Sunstreaker created art and Sideswipe sold it. I still cannot for the life of me figure out where Sunstreaker's artistic ability came from." The angry tactician counted off the list with his digits, "Then the Pit Bosses dragged them into the gladiator pits, where they were forced into life or death matches, rented for experimentation to Shockwave and were repeatedly raped in the hopes that they would spark new gladiators, and the best you can come up with is ' _it's not fair'_?"

Very few things could frag Prowl off and make the oh so cold and calculated tactician loose his cool. The twins past and the fall of Praxus were about the only things that could. Jazz knew deep in his spark that it was only because those were the only things that Prowl couldn't fix; everything else was within the tactician realm of expertise.

Jazz allowed his energy field to flare a little, caressing against Prowl's as he sent a wave of reassurance, understanding and calm over the bond, "Ya know Prowler, that little rant of yers could give Blue a good run fer his money."

The black and white door wings dropped marginally but Prowl's shoulders never moved, "My apologies Jazz. Please forgive my outburst."

Guilt and embarrassment filtered over the bond, making Jazz grin, "Yer adorable when yer all curfluffled." He whispered lowly so that only Prowl could hear.

Door wings came high again, something that Jazz was glad to see as it meant his mate was coming back around, "We are in public Jazz, you know better." Came the emotionless response from his lover, that same tone that drove the saboteur wild. He could hear what the others had missed.

Prowl sighed, canting his helm slightly as he gave Jazz a confused look, "What is curfluffled? Is that even a word?"

Jazz's grin turned back into a beaming smile, "Ya know, all discombobulated. Ah heard it from Bluestreak a while ago."

Nodding, Prowl suddenly understood where Jazz had gotten the word that made his logical center revolt and found he was not all that surprised.

Jazz's grin slipped off his faceplates as Prowl turned to face the door again,"Ya ready?"

A soft sigh left the tactician as he palmed the door to his office open, not bothering to answer his mate knowing Jazz could feel his annoyance over the bond.

Inside his office, Prowl saw that Sunstreaker was leaning against the far wall while he glared at his foolish crimson twin.

Sideswipe on the other servo, was sitting in the visitors chair, one leg tucked under his body while the other propelled him in circles. He stopped, throwing Prowl a lopsided grin when he realised that he and Jazz and entered the room, the bright blue optics flickering with his dizziness.

"Its 'bout time Prowl! What took so long?" Sideswipe nearly whined as he tracked Prowl's movement from the door to the seat behind his desk.

Jazz swallowed the near snort at the front liners foolish words as he took up a spot beside Sunstreaker along the wall. Clearly Sideswipe had yet to realize how much trouble he really was in.

The golden mech glared daggers into the back of his twin's helm, ensuring to fill the bond with his irritation and anger towards his brother. Again, Sideswipe ignored his brother as he gave a cheeky grin to Prowl as he sat across the desk.

Tenting his servos on his desk, Prowl leveled a cold look at Sideswipe and only then did the crimson front liner wilt, if only slightly.

Never taking his boring optics from the crimson mech, Prowl's too calm, too cold voice came, "You acted irresponsibly today and your actions nearly cost us the mission. It could have cost us your foolish life or the lives of our allies."

Jazz flinched at the harsh words and Sunstreaker's frown deepened, but neither moved to defend the crimson mech's actions; they both felt the same way.

Only then did Sideswipe realize how deep in his hole he really was; his grin faded completely and his shoulders dropped down low, "But…but I found Thundercracker. I avoided the death of those human girls and helped bring them all in safely. Isn't that enough?"

Prowl's door wings came even higher, "You allowed a civilian human, an unknown human, to steal you while you were within your alt form. She could have done anything to you in that state."

"Well, she is just a single femme and it turned out fine." The excuse was weak even to Sideswipe's audios.

"No human should be under estimated Sideswipe, I believe both Daniela and Callie proved that today with their little show of force." The crimson mech opened his mouth to add something, but Prowl cut him off, "That is besides the point here Sideswipe. The point is, we were hunting for a very dangerous seeker with the great potential of human hostages and you think it to be a good idea to go on a joy ride?"

Sideswipe floundered, his jaw moving up and down as he tried to form words to create his defence. His silence allowed Prowl to continue, "You endangered not only your life, but the lives of our allies and the human femmes. Thundercracker might not have been so badly damaged and that would have resulted in a fight which had a ninety-five percent chance of ending in human casualties."

This time Sideswipe didn't bother to try to defend his actions as guilt overrode everything else; instead he remained silent, knowing that Prowl was just getting to his punishment, "Your punishment for your foolish actions will be two weeks of extra duty in the medbay with Ratchet."

Blue optics brightened in annoyance as Sideswipe shot up a little higher, "What! That's not fair!"

Prowl's helm tilted to the side, his door wings far too still and high behind him, "You would rather do two weeks on comm. duty with Red Alert?"

The frontliner gaped at his SIC, "Two weeks with sparky? Yeesh Prowl that's harsh, I think I'll take the Hatchet."

"I thought so. You are dismissed." Prowl said coldly, his gaze never wavering.

Surprise flashed over the front liners face and Sideswipe stiffened, "That's it?"

Prowl pulled out a data pad from his subspace to begin the paper work for the new humans on base, "Yes. I have already contacted Ratchet and he is expecting you."

The white helm went down to focus on the work at servo and Prowl missed the look of _hurt_ that passed over the front liners face, "Oh. Right then, guess I better be off then."

Slowly Sideswipe stood, throwing a confused look to his twin and Jazz, Neither Autobot so much as twitched and Sunstreaker clamped down hard on the bond. Let his foolish twin flail.

Frowning, Sideswipe made his way to the door, his tank and spark constricting in guilt. He made it all the way to the door before he paused, Sunstreaker and Jazz watching him the whole way. The red mech considered things for a moment before he marched back over to Prowl, coming to stand beside the tactician where he sat. A full klik passed before Prowl looked up to regard Sideswipe, "Is there something you need Sideswipe?"

The crimson front liner's frown deepened as he looked down at the mech that had become a creator figure to him, "There's nothing else?"

Prowl's own frown deepened in response as he set the data pad down, "No there is not. You have been given your duties."

Sideswipe nearly glared, "Are you sure?"

"Yes." Came the quick response.

This time, not even Prowl missed the flash of hurt, "Oh." The crimson twin responded lamely.

"You should be going to your duties now."

"I…alright." Was the near crushed response.

Prowl's helm tipped back down to his data pad and still Sideswipe didn't move.

"Prowl?" Sideswipes voice was hesitant.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry." This time the front liner's voice came out as a whine and Prowl knew that Sideswipe wasn't sorry for what he had done, but for the fact that he had disappointed Prowl.

Prowl sighed and again looked up to Sideswipe's remorseful face; Prowl _knew_ he just didn't like to disappoint the SIC.

Slowly Prowl got to his pedes, coming to face the front liner. Despite Sideswipe being nearly two heads taller than him, Prowl still managed to at least seem to tower over him. The crimson mech hunched a little further into himself at Prowl's intense stare. Wrapping his arms around the mech that had become like his off spring, Prowl pulled the larger mech into a tight hug; even Prowl knew when to give a little.

Returning the hug, Sideswipe buried his face into Prowl's shoulder, being far too tall to reach the mostly white chest plates. Again, a remorseful, if slightly muffled, "I'm sorry" came from the frontliner.

Prowl didn't tell him that it was all right because really it wasn't. Sideswipe could have been killed that day or caused someone else to die because of his actions, so telling him that it was all okay would have been a lie.

Instead, Prowl gently told him, "I know Sideswipe. I know you are."

The tactician knew when to be hard and when to be soft, even though the emotions behind the actions confused him sometimes.

Giving the massive red mech another hard squeeze, Prowl released him, "Feel better now?"

Nearly pouting, the front liner nodded; it was comical to watch Sideswipe act like that when on the battle field he was a stone cold killer.

"Alright, Ratchet's waiting for you." Prowl told him, his tone even as always.

Sideswipe nodded before all but fleeing Prowl's office to take refuge in Ratchet's medbay of all places.

For a moment the three remaining mech's didn't move, all watching the door to see if the crimson mech returned to beg for forgiveness. After a moment, Sunstreaker peeled himself from the wall and slowly walked in his graceful way to Prowl. Tipping his helm up to regard the younger twin, Prowl asked, "Is there something you need Sunstreaker?"

The gold mech didn't move, just stared down at the SIC with his cold, blue optics. It was a very rare moment when Sunstreaker would seek or give comfort but when he did, Prowl did his best to provide the golden front liner with what he needed.

Slowly and painfully awkward, Sunstreaker reached down to wrap his arms around Prowl's smaller frame. The tactician let himself to be pulled into a tight hug, allowing Sunstreaker to give the comfort he wanted to give but was often too self conscious to give.

The tight hug lasted only a few astro-seconds before the golden warrior pulled away, straightening up to act as if nothing odd had occurred. "I'll go make sure the idiot makes it."

The gruff tone masked the relief that Sunstreaker actually felt. With one last nod, the front liner turned on his toe plate and marched out of the room.

Prowl took a seat and picked the data pad back up as Jazz locked the door to the black and white mech's office. Turning and walking in his whimsical way to his spark mate, Jazz forced his way into Prowl's lap, settling comfortably there.

"Jazz I do have to get this paper work done for Mearing." Came the emotionless reply, despite the amusement that flickered over the bond.

Jazz snorted as he took the data pad and tossed it across the room; it landed softly and undamaged on the floor, "The kids are taken care of, they've been reprimanded and comforted. Ratchet's got his servos full with that seeker and Prime and Lennox are dealing with the new human femmes here on base. Mearing will be cleaning that gunk off herself fer a while. Way Ah see it, we gotta 'bout an orn befer any one comes a looken."

"Jazz," Prowl's protest was cut off when Jazz's lips were pressed to his, a soft kiss silencing the SIC. Pulling away Prowl glared at his mate, knowing he needed to get that paper work done but he also knew that Jazz could feel the lick of arousal that suddenly raced through his frame.

"Yer too stressed out over what Sides did. Let's unwind."

Jazz pressed his mouth back to Prowl's, his hot glossa slipping past the tactician's dove colored lips and Prowl couldn't find it in him to protest.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TBC...
> 
> AN: So yeah. I had thought that it would be nice to give some context to Prowl and the twins relationships before Callie and TC have their little heart to heart. Didn't mean for it to be this long, it was meant to be a short part before I got back to Thundercracker and this is what happened. -.-
> 
> So, yeah bonus chapter.
> 
> We will go back to our regular scheduled program next chapter :D


	13. We Need to Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Important Information
> 
> "Blah" Speaking
> 
> :Blah: comm. link
> 
> 'Blah'bonded speech
> 
> 'Blah' thinking
> 
> Astrosecond- 2.5 earth Seconds
> 
> Klik- 150 earth seconds/ 2.5 earth Minutes
> 
> Orn- 150 earth minutes/ 2.5 earth Hours
> 
> Joor- 60 earth hours/2.5 earth Days
> 
> Metacycle- 17.5 earth days/2.5 earth Weeks
> 
> Vorn- 10 earth weeks/2.5 earth months
> 
> Stellercycle-30 earth months/2.5 years
> 
> Breem-slang for a moment/minute.
> 
> Night Cycle: star down to star up
> 
> Day Cycle: Star up to star down
> 
> Authors Note: Okay, first and for most, thank you to DarknessRising10, who did all the beta work and assured me this chapter is not as bad as I think it is.
> 
> I'm very unsure about this chapter, and debated whether or not to scrap the whole thing and try again. I was assured that it was good (thank you DarknessRising!) so I hope you enjoy this one too. I know its a long one, but I think the last few won't be as long. So enjoy.
> 
> Disclaimer: I own only my OC's, nothing else.

Callie leaned wearily against the wall where she sat in the hallway just outside the medbay, determined to hold her vigil until Thundercracker woke up.

Lennox and Epps had shown Callie and her cousins to what would be used as their quarters so long as they were within the N.E.S.T compound and under Autobot protection; the small rooms were all the same, four blank orange walls, a desk, a bed, a night stand and a lamp. They each had a room to call their own but had to use public showers; in reality none of them were too bummed about having to share, they would at least each get their own stall. After the rooms were assigned, Optimus Prime and William Lennox had wanted to speak with the human femmes in regards to their future.

Danny was still not feeling one hundred percent, leaving Callie to make the decisions and there was only one thing Callie wanted to do. She wanted to talk to Thundercracker and had flat out refused to speak with any Autobot or N.E .S.T commander until she spoke to the seeker first.

Following their cousin's lead, none of the sisters had said anything either; sealing their jaws and refusing to speak until Callie had gotten what she wanted.

That was how Callie found herself sitting outside the Autobot medbay, Danny leaning against her blonde cousin's shoulder dozing away her nausea. Liz and Mia were entertaining Lucy by playing crazy eights while she too waited for Thundercracker to wake and Aleyah was staring angrily at the wall across the hall.

An Autobot stood guard at both ends of the hall, effectively boxing the girls in; the first had been a loud mouthed red mech with little horns while the other had been a quiet red and grey mech who kept talking about racing Blurr. While Lennox and Epps were off discussing what to do with the new arrivals with the Prime, the girls were basically left to their own devices; so long as they were in the presence of an Autobot, their guarded rooms or the medbay hall way.

The first occurrence that broke the seemingly dull wait for Thundercracker to awaken was the reappearance of Sideswipe and his less than thrilled golden twin.

Danny had managed to crack open a blurry brown eye when the crimson mech had come strutting down the hall and grinned down at the small car thief. The golden twin had growled at his brother when Sideswipe had paused just outside the medbay doors but as usual, the crimson mech had ignored the warning.

"How ya feeling Danny?" He asked the human, his voice still that irritating cheerfulness.

Not lifting her head from her brooding cousin's shoulder, Danny shrugged, using her hand to indicate she was still 'so-so'. The front liner's grin never faded, "Well, you purging on Mearing was pretty great. You'll be a legend around here by tomorrow."

Still not lifting her head, Danny snorted and gave the Autobot the thumbs up.

Sunstreaker snarled again, firmly ignoring the humans, "Get your aft into medbay. Ratchet is expecting you."

"Yeah, yeah. One minute Sunshine." Sideswipe waved his brother's words away, still focused on the human.

The gold mech snarled at his twin, his massive black servos balling into tight fists, "Don't call me Sun-"

The younger twins words were cut off by Sideswipe, excitedly addressing Danny, "Wanna go for a drive again when I get out of punishment detail?"

From beside the crimson mech, Sunstreaker balked, his words dying in his throat as his jaw literally dropped.

The other humans all stopped what they were doing, slowly turning their heads to watch Danny while the car thief slowly raised her head. Confusion on her small face, her lips tugging down, "You want to go for a drive?"

"Yeah!"

More confusion crossed the car thief's face at his happy response, "And you want me to drive?"

If at all possible Sideswipe's grin got bigger at her slow words, while his twins face got darker, "If you're not sick by then! But yeah, I want you to drive my alt form."

The confusion bled away to something akin to excitement, "Like on the highway?"

Sideswipe's own excitement mirrored Danny's. "Just like on the highway!" The crimson front liner suddenly leered down at the thief, "But I'm sure you can go faster."

Danny's crooked grin widened and for the first time since exiting Jetfire's alt form, the human's brown eyes brightened, "Well, I can't drive something that's so banged up. Could have a damaged engine." Danny sighed dramatically as she leaned back against Callie, "Guess I'll have to drive your brother."

Sunstreaker snarled with indignation, his armor puffing up like an angry cat while his brother laughed, "Naw, Sunshine would be no fun."

Feeling the murderous rage coming from Sunstreaker's side of the bond, the crimson mech grinned and took another step towards the medbay doors but not going inside. Danny also ignored the golden twin, "Alright Sideswipe. I'll put your alt form through its paces."

Still grinning, Sideswipe gave Danny a saucy grin, "Maybe I can teach you something about driving."

"I doubt it." Danny said; her tone bored but the grin on her face betraying her excitement.

Nodding to the human, Sideswipe disappeared into the medbay. Sunstreaker glared at Danny for a beat longer before he turned pede and marched stiffly away, his servos balling and un-balling in and out of fists.

It wasn't until he disappeared around the corner that Danny's sing song voice rang out, "I get to drive the Lambo again!"

Callie snorted, "Yeah, but the brother seems to hate you already."

Danny just grinned, "New record."

Silence fell between the girls again as they tried to ignore the stares and confused looks from the other N.E.S.T soldiers and support staff. Lennox and Optimus had yet to figure out exactly what they were going to tell the others, leaving no official statement to be released at that time. This lack of communication left the girls feeling like zoo animals while the commanders scrambled.

It shortly reached a breaking point.

After two more N.E.S.T support staff had actually stopped walking to literally _gawk_ at the girls, Aleyah finally snapped. The dark haired girl snarled at the two men, her voice, hot and angry, bit out, "What the hell do you want!?"

The two onlookers froze in shock at Aleyah's sudden snarling tone and spluttered for a response. Their foolish bumbling just fed more fuel to the dark haired girl's proverbial fire, "Get the hell out of here! Don't you have a job to be doing?" The two men started, shocked at Aleyah's rant but she merely waved them off, "Well get going!"

The two quickly turned tail and fled, heading back the way they had come. The red coloured guard, who they had learned through eaves dropping, was named Cliffjumper, snickered at the males' quick yet cowardly escape.

Once Aleyah got going, she would run until she ran out of steam or something interrupted her. The black haired girl stood and began pacing, never leaving the perceived safety of her family, "This is bull shit!" she began, "We shouldn't have to be here! We should have handed the fucked up flier to the Autobots and gotten the hell out of LA! But nnnnnnnnnnooooooooo! Callie wanted to see him home!"

Callie sighed, not taking offence to her cousin's angry words. The blond knew she didn't mean them; she just needed to get this rant out of her system, so the blonde zoned out, her blue eyes becoming unfocused as Aleyah ranted and she pretended to listen.

Then Danny squeezed her arm, hard.

Callie came out of her daze to look at her wine color haired cousin; said cousin was staring wide eyed down the hall way. If possible her face even more pale than it already had been, making her brown eyes look darker than they actually were.

Wondering what could have possibly given Danny of all people such a scare, especially in the aftermath of the garage incident, Callie followed her cousin's line of sight and froze. Of all the things she expected to see coming behind her ranting cousin, a metallic Tyrannosaurus Rex was not one of them; Liz, Mia and Lucy all froze in shock as the metallic lizard came lumbering down the hall towards them, their guards not seemingly too concerned about it.

The T-Rex slowly got closer, moving with surprising grace and silence of a predator stalking through the forest for its prey. "Umm. Aleyah, c…come here." Mia's hesitant voice called out, reaching for her sister.

As the T-Rex came to stop just behind Aleyah, the massive head looking down at her in confusion, the dark hair girl snapped "No! Not this time, you're all going to sit there and shut up this time and listen to what I have to say!"

"Yeah, but…" the green eyed human had tried again only to be interrupted by her sister again.

"No! Not this time!" Aleyah snapped, her face going flush with her anger. She opened her mouth to add something when the T-Rex leaned its massive head down to smell Aleyah. The sudden heavy intake of air drew Aleyah's clothing up towards the creature's nostrils, her gelled hair floating upward with it. Just as suddenly as the creature inhaled, it exhaled and forced everything down hard.

Everyone froze. The girls stared at the creature behind Aleyah while the dark hair girl stared blankly at the wall, very clearly on the verge of panic. Slowly, Aleyah managed to swallow the lump in her throat and turned to see what was behind her.

A gun metal grey snout greeted her, huffing as it took another deep intake of air to take in Aleyah's sweet sent.

"Oh hell!" Aleyah snapped, tripping over her own two feet as she scrambled away. The dark haired girl fell hard to the tiled floor, the warm, sticky breath still flowing heavily over her body as she scrambled away. Crab walking backwards, Aleyah practically crawled into Mia's lap, plastering herself and her sister flat against the wall, "That's a fucking T-Rex!"

From down the hall the girls could hear Cliffjumper chuckling but none of them really registered that he was as Aleyah's shocked voice snapped out again, "They have a bloody T-Rex!"

The T-Rex canted his massive head, almost in confusion at the small humans in front of him, his blue optics going from one face to the next. The girls stared back, the T-Rex's confusion mirrored in their own eyes.

For a moment, time stood still, nobody moving.

"A dinosaur!" Lucy exclaimed suddenly, darting away from Liz's lax hold.

With Aleyah still plastered and unmoving from the wall, pinning Mia there as well, they were unable to grab the nine year old. Liz, Callie and Danny all lunged for the girl; Danny collided with Callie, causing them both to fall to the ground in their hurry. Liz just wasn't fast enough to catch the nine year old as the smallest blonde ran for the metallic lizard.

Coming to stand beneath the sniffing creature, Lucy looked up with bright blue eyes that were wide and in awe. The nine year old grinned as the older members of her family scrambled to grab the girl. Reaching up with tiny hands and having to come onto her tip toes to reach, Lucy pressed the tips of her fingers against the warm metal armor of the dinosaur. She then moved her fingers back and forth, her small nails scrapping against the metal as she scratched at the dinosaur's muzzle.

Callie sucked in a deep breath of air, half expecting the creature to snap its massive jaws and eat Lucy but instead, the massive creature gave a pleased little noise and dropped with a thud to lay curled around the girl.

Lucy giggled as a noise that _could_ have been a purr, left the metallic creature as it pressed its head closer to the small blonde.

Callie frowned, confusion and near panic was the first thing that came to mind. But the calmer, more rational part of the blonde's mind said that this really shouldn't surprise her, not really. Not after meeting Thundercracker and the last few days she had just had; and a giant alien robot shaped like a dinosaur curled around her little sister, like an over grown dog while she scratched its ears, was not necessarily the weirdest thing she'd seen in the past week.

Danny seemed to have the same sentiment as a soft 'huh' left her as she settled back against the wall, "Not really the kind of pet she would have brought home."

Lucy stopped scratching the T-Rex's chin as she turned to face her oldest cousin and sister, "Callie brought TC home! Why can't I play with the T-Rex?"

"Because it's a dinosaur." Callie said calmly, "Now get away from it!"

Lucy huffed angrily at her sister as the T-Rex lifted his massive head, nudging the small blonde with his nose. He surprised them all when he spoke in a gruff voice, "Me Grimlock, you small human, what name?"

"Oh crap, he can talk." Came Mia's stunned voice; still pinned behind Aleyah as they stared in shock at the dinosaur.

Lucy beamed up at Grimlock, happy to have her _own_ friend, one she didn't have to share with Callie. "I'm Lucy!"

Grimlock canted his massive head, "You Lucy scratch me Grimlock chin."

Lucy grinned back up at the Dinobot, pressing her hands back to the grey armour, "Okay Grimlock. Scritch, scritch, scritch!" the little blonde sing songed as her hands moved back and forth.

Stunned Aleyah peeled herself off her sister, coming to sit beside Mia. Liz stared happily at the creature, wondering if she too could give _scritches_ to Grimlock.

Danny settled back against the wall comfortably, knowing that Grimlock wouldn't hurt Lucy, if the loud almost purring was any indication, "Well, it's not quite a dog, but whatever."

Callie sighed, carefully watching Grimlock for any sign that he may harm the small girl and finding none, "I guess so, could be worse."

A nasty grin spread across Danny's face, "Yeah, could be a half dead Decepticon."

A hard elbow to the ribs caused Danny to grunt in pain and Callie calmly settled back against the wall, shooting her cousin a dirty look, "There is nothing wrong with Thundercracker."

Danny snorted just as Grimlock began to wag his massive tail as Lucy scratched at his chin. The massive gun metal grey tail thudded against the ground in a steady _thudthudthud_.

Suddenly the large orange doors of the medbay swooshed open and Ratchet's angry face appeared at the open door way. His blue optics narrowed in on Lucy and Grimlock, neither bothering to look up at the irritated medic, "What in the _pit_ are you doing Grimlock!?"

Instantly the massive head came up to look nervously at Ratchet, his tail stilling behind him.

Lucy, fearless Lucy who had cuteness and supposed nativity on her side, spun around to face Ratchet with her best smile, "I'm giving Grimlock scritches!"

For a moment Ratchet stalled, not entirely sure what to make of that exclamation. The medic blinked down at the small blonde before taking a deep intake of calming air, "This is the medical wing, not the rec room! Get back to work Grimlock, you have things to be doing!"

Optics down cast, Grimlock slowly stood up, "Me Grimlock, go back to patrol duty."

Lucy frowned at the Dinobot's downcast optics and almost disappointed tone, narrowing her blue eyes at the medic, "Well, can he come back later to get scritches? When he's off duty?"

Ratchet's optics flicked to Grimlock's hopeful faceplates before returning to Lucy. The wrench in the medic's red servos nearly bent as Ratchet squeezed the metal tool, "So long as you're quiet."

Lucy grinned and Grimlock's optics came up, hopeful, "Me Grimlock, get scritches from, her Lucy?"

"So long as you're quiet!" Came the demand and this time the wrench did bend in his servos.

"I can be quiet!" Lucy nearly yelled, Grimlock nodding behind her, his tail swinging out back and forth.

Blue optics rolled, "Get back to work Grimlock, I think Wheeljack is waiting for you."

The T-Rex's head bobbed in a nod and he turned to lumber down the hallway. Lucy waved to his retreating back, her happy smile beaming in the Autobots direction, "Bye Grimlock! I'll see you later."

As Lucy settled down back to play cards as though nothing odd had occurred, despite the wide eyed stare from Mia and Aleyah, Callie wondered when things would calm down again. Then, when Hound hesitantly came down the medical hallway, his black servos wringing nervously, Callie knew the day's craziness wasn't over.

The kind, gentle mech came to stand in front of Liz, nervousness splayed across of his face. Liz looked up at the mostly green mech and smiled, "Hi Hound."

Crouching down to get closer to the small femme, he said "Hey Liz. Are…are your rooms okay?"

It was a lame attempt at small talk and everyone knew it. The usually cheerful, social mech really didn't know how to talk to a human femme. Like Sideswipe, Hound had only really dealt with Mearing and she wasn't really a happy person.

"I've been in worse." Liz said cheerfully, ignoring the mech's nearly failed attempt.

The green mech blinked down at her, "Oh." There was nothing else one could really say to a response like that, but the jeep stayed his course, "Well anyway, I remember you saying on the way here that you've never seen a desert flower. Trailbreaker and I are heading out to the east end of the compound where these caves usually have some really pretty flowers…" Again the mech paused, almost unsure if what he was about to ask would be met with ridicule, "would you like to come with us?"

Hound braced himself for mockery. So many times had he asked others to come on the hike to the caves to see the blooming flowers, and so many times he had been mocked for his love of nature.

Then Liz's freckled face broke into a hesitant grin, "You really want to take me with you?"

The mech squirmed, still a little worried that the jokes were about to start, "If you want."

Liz's smile got just a little bigger, "Am I allowed to?"

"Well. Yeah. You'd be with me and Trailbreaker, so we wouldn't be breaking Prowls rule of keeping a guard with you."

"Okay!" Liz jumped up, nearly tripping over Lucy in her hurry, "Can we go check it out now?"

Hounds worry melted into joy at showing something new to a new friend, "We can! Come on!"

Liz turned to wave to her sisters, not bothering to say good bye as she turned back to Hound, more questions on her lips, "Is your blue friend coming to?"

"Mirage? Um…no! Nature really isn't his thing." Hound said hesitantly as they walked passed Cliffjumper, who was shaking his helm and not so quietly muttering, 'tree hugger'.

Hound shot the small red mech a look of hurt but his worry spread into a grin at Liz's excited chatter about desert flowers. From where she was, Callie could hear her asking what kinds of flowers bloomed in the compound but Hound's response was lost to the chatter of the base as they rounded the corner.

Callie sighed, slumping against the wall as Danny settled in against her cousin a little more comfortably, muttering about robot aliens.

Life went on in the _Ark_ and shift change came and went. Cliffjumper and the red and grey mech, named Windcharger, were released from duty and a chatty mech named Bluestreak along with a red mech named Perceptor took their place.

It was at that time that Sideswipe, looking exhausted but ready to go out, finally emerged from the medbay. Grinning, Danny perked up, ready to go for the promised drive and the two went off. Callie couldn't help but wonder if her dear cousin had some kind of alternative motive, besides getting the chance to drive a lambo.

It was also then that Aleyah decided she had enough of waiting around for the damaged seeker to wake up and left for her room. Mia went with her and Bluestreak escorted the two back to their room, leaving Callie alone with Lucy and Perceptor. The tall red mech wasn't in the mood to talk and firmly ignored the two as he stared with bored disinterest at the orange wall.

Sighing, Lucy crawled into her sister's lap, settling in a small ball. "Is TC going to be okay?" She asked; her voice quiet and hesitant now that her older cousins were all gone.

Callie's own sigh echoed her sister, "I don't know. Ratchet is doing all he can."

Lucy shifted in her sister's lap, nervousness flowing off the nine year old in waves. "What's going to happen to us?"

Another sigh left the older blonde as she gave her little sister a squeeze, "I don't know Lu."

Lucy frowned, feeing her checks heating up from the nick name her father had given her. "What's going to happen to TC."

Callie frowned, turning Lucy in her lap making sure the little girl was paying attention to her and her alone, "TC is going to go back to the Decepticons Lucy. He's…" the older blonde paused, not sure what to tell her baby sister, "He's more like us. He's good in here," at these words Callie pressed her hand to her sister's chest, just over her heart, "but he's done bad things, things that he thinks he can't stay here for."

Lucy paused again, her small brow furrowing, "But why can't he stay here with us? I like the Autobots, they're not so bad."

Callie sighed, still trying to shield Lucy from the truths that would crush what little faith the girl still had. Just as the older blonde tried to compose herself enough to explain to Lucy why Thundercracker would probably have to go home, and how she would try to convince him otherwise, Callie was saved by the most particular of heroes.

"Hi!" Came a small quiet voice from down the hall; a small blonde head with long pig tails poked her head around the corner.

Even Perceptor looked down, his serious face pulled down into a small frown, "Annabelle, does your father know you are here?"

The blonde haired, hazel eyed little girl promptly ignored Perceptor as she skipped down the hallway, a small handmade red doll in her hands.

Blue optics rolled as Perceptor commed Ironhide, asking if he would come and claim his charge.

Lucy untangled herself from Callie's body with a wide grin as Annabelle came to stand by the older girl; if Callie had to hazard a guess, little Annabelle could be no older than seven.

"I'm Lucy!"

Annabelle's little grin widened, "I'm Annabelle." The even smaller blonde paused for a moment before she held up the small red doll in her hands, "And this is little Ironhide. He's my protector!"

Callie sighed, quietly muttering "Of course he is."

Figures that Ironhide would be the protector of the only other little girl in the damned base, why wouldn't he be after Danny had mocked his Alt form?

Before long the two blondes were sitting on the floor, playing with little Ironhide and Miss Molly; laughing and giggling like two normal little girls that were not in the center of a robotic alien war ship, surrounded by N.E.S.T soldiers and Autobot warriors, would.

It was not Ironhide that had come looking for little Annabelle, but her father.

Callie froze when William Lennox came swinging around the corner, looking more annoyed than angry at his wayward daughter's whereabouts. The moment the tall red mech spotted the N.E.S.T commander, Perceptor relaxed; his massive shoulders dropping at the fact that Annabelle, at the very least, was no longer his responsibility.

Remaining tense, Callie watched as Lennox marched past her, coming to stand behind his lost daughter. The two blondes ignored the commander as he pressed his hands to his hips and frowned down at his daughter.

Biting her lip to stop from laughing, Callie continued to watch as Lennox cleared his throat, trying to draw Annabelle's attention. Lucy looked up, her small head canting to the side as she studied Lennox with a small confused frown.

Annabelle's hazel eyes darted up at the wall across from where she sat, before dropping back down to little Ironhide in her hands.

Lennox's eyes narrowed in on his daughter as he cleared his throat again, with a little more vigor then before. Annabelle sighed that sulky sigh only a seven year old could, tipping her head back to look at her father.

"Hi daddy."

Lennox's brow quirked at his daughter, exasperation clear on his face, "Anna, weren't you told to stay with Ironhide and out of the medbay hall?"

Annabelle paused to think, her hazel eyes looking up to ponder her answer, "But I made a new friend."

Lennox frowned again in response to his daughter's comment, crossing his arms over his chest as he pinned Annabelle with a stern look, "Ironhide has been looking all over for you. You were told to stay out of this hallway."

Annabelle frowned back at her father, her voice a near whine, "But I'm always allowed here."

The tired sigh from the N.E.S.T commander nearly sent Callie into a fit of giggles; seeing the tough leader in a battle of wits with a seven year old was far more amusing than Callie was willing to admit.

Then Lucy chimed in to help Annabelle double team her father, "Why can't she play in the hallway? Is it because we're here?"

The blonde new comer gave the commander such a sad, heartbroken look, that it made even Lennox's stern face soften. He sighed, frown still firm on his face as his arms dropped to his sides; Perceptor had torn his gaze away from the wall to watch the N.E.S.T Commander.

Annabelle looked up, her own look of hurt piercing her father's heart, "Yeah daddy. Why can't I play here? Do you not want me to play with Lucy?"

Well practiced tears welded in Lucy's big blue eyes as she looked up at Lennox, "Is there something wrong with me?"

Her small voice broke, her lower lip trembled and a single tear trickled down her small cheek. All well practised ploys used to get out of any trouble Lucy might find herself in.

Annabelle watched her new friend, quickly adapting and following suit; her own lip trembling in a pout.

Lennox looked helpless between the two little girls, his jaw moving up and down as he searched for an appropriate answer.

Callie finally cracked; between the faked sad looks of the two blondes and the near lost look from the commander, the ex-smuggler burst into laughter. She did, at least, try to hide that fact by covering her mouth with her hand but it did little to muffle her giggles. Lennox turned and frowned at her, his hazel eyes narrowing in on the older blonde. When he said nothing, Callie chimed in, "You're getting double teamed by a pair of little girls."

Lennox's frown deepened while Lucy sent her sister a scathing look, her tears drying up with her anger.

Sighing, Callie waved her hand at Lennox, "Lucy isn't going to contaminate your kid, let them play."

Shooting his daughter one more scathing look, one that promised a good grounding when they left, Lennox slowly went to sit with Callie. The two little girls ignored the look and shared a look of triumph with each other before they went back to playing their little game. Settling awkwardly next to Callie, Lennox sighed as he leaned against the wall of the Autobot ship. He drew his knees up, setting his arms on the bent joints.

There was a strained silence settled between the two adults while the children played, lost in their own little world of innocence and peace.

After what felt like an eternity watching the girls, Lennox cleared his throat, drawing Callie's attention to him, "Nice weather out here. Always warm."

Lennox winced at his own lame attempt at small talk, it had been so long since someone new had come to base that he really didn't have the chance to practice.

Callie just went with it, giving a small nod, "Yeah. Beats the cold, I guess."

Her response was just as awkward as his question, so Callie went with the first thing that came to mind, "Do all the soldiers have their families here?"

Lennox paused, his hands tightening on his knees, "No," He eventually responded. "No Annabelle met Ironhide when they first arrived on Earth. They became quite close while he got to watch her grow up."

The ex-smuggler frowned, catching her teeth in her lip, "So she's the only little girl here?"

Another sigh left Lennox as he let his legs drop down, "Yeah. The Autobots try to keep her entertained but they really don't have much in common with a seven year old."

His hazel eyes drifted back to the two little blondes while they played.

"So how does the whole school thing work then? Won't she brag to her little friends that she gets to hang out with robots?" Callie asked, trying to keep the first real conversation she had in hours going.

Perceptor frowned at her terminology, only paying some attention to the humans' conversation as Lennox chuckled, "She goes to a private school with other kids who come from families that keep secrets. CIA agents kids, high ranking generals and what not. They know not to get too close and make friends. They can't afford to."

Callie frowned at the commander's words, "That's kind of lonely for a seven year old, isn't it?"

Another long sigh left Lennox as he slumped a little more into himself, "Yes. Yes it is."

There was another beat of silence when Callie tried again, "Is her mom in the service too?"

Lennox actually flinched at her words and even Callie felt bad for asking. Looking down the dark haired man sighed in anger this time, narrowing his dark hazel eyes, "No. Sarah couldn't take having aliens around and Anna couldn't take not being around them. So, Sarah left. Said she wanted a normal life with a normal daughter and not a couple of freaks and their freak van."

Callie felt surprise wash away her suspicion, "So, wait. Let me get this straight, because your daughter wanted to be friends with Ironhide, your wife left you?"

Lennox gave a single shoulder shrug, his angry eyes narrowed on the floor between his feet, "She couldn't handle that Anna wanted to play with aliens rather than other little girls. She didn't like the fact that I liked working with them. Sarah wanted to out the Autobots and start an anti-alien movement."

Callie gave a soft, low whistle as she leaned back against the wall, a little miffed; did no one have happy families anymore? Why was it that everyone they met was just as screwed up as them? Heaving a tired sigh, Callie told the N.E.S.T commander the only thing of comfort she could think of, "Wow. Your ex sounds like a crazy bitch." Lennox snorted at her assessment, knowing that it was not even _close_ to the caliber of how crazy Sarah had become after the Autobots had crashed landed in their back yard, "Well. Anna has Lucy to play with for now."

In spite of himself, Lennox managed a grin, "So she does."

Easy banter fell between the two humans; Callie being careful not to give away too much information on what transpired between herself and Thundercracker and Lennox was careful not to ask. Now was not the time for that conversation.

The banter was mostly small talk and questions about the Autobots. Callie learned which Autobots were more likely to be friendly and which were likely to squash them. The blonde also ensured to get as much information as she could on the Autobot's side of the war. If she was going to have a proper talk with her seeker guard, she wanted to be well informed. She wanted to ensure that she wouldn't be duped again; as much as Callie hated to admit it, she understood why Thundercracker had lied to her in the beginning.

She could forgive the first time but if he thought he was going to lie again, he had another thing coming. If he lied to her again, Callie would know the true caliber of his person and would have no issue to send him packing back to _Nemesis_ without guilt or worry.

Callie continued to talk with William Lennox until Sideswipe returned with Danny; the car thief was looking a little windswept but the massive grin said that she at least enjoyed the ride.

Lennox had then said it was time to be on his way when Sideswipe had said his good bye to Danny, taking Anna with him with the promise to be back later.

The car thief had given both the Autobot and the N.E.S.T commander a toothy grin as she waved good bye then with a sigh Danny leaned onto Callie saying, "There is no way off this base. Every nook and cranny is recorded, the grounds are all fenced in with barbed wired, electrical fences and guards roam the halls and grounds at all times."

Callie shrugged as she leaned her head on top of her cousin's, Lucy curling next to her to nap, "I figured as much." She sighed.

()()()

After three days on the _Ark_ Callie could see the small routine that had been carved around them and their sudden entrance into the Autobots lives.

In the three days that the girls had been in the _Ark_ the other N.E.S.T personal lost interest in them, had stopped watching and staring at them. Callie had no doubt that they still gossiped about them but at least the looky-loos had stopped coming by. Prowl had finished the girls paper work before the end of their first day on base but Mearing had yet to make another appearance since Danny had vomited on the Intelligence Director.

Callie had also learned that not long into the second day, Thundercracker had woken for a short while before passing out again. Ratchet had assured a worried Callie that the seeker's processor was intact and he had not forgotten them after his near stasis scare.

So while waiting for Thundercracker to awaken once more, Callie clung to the routine that had sprung up around them.

At 08:00, a guard, Hound, from the ending third shift would come and escort the girls to the mess hall for breakfast. Hound would then go to recharge while the girls had their meal with the N.E.S.T commanders and the Autobots who were preparing for the first shift of the day.

Cliffjumper and Windcharger would escort the human femmes to the medbay hall at 08:30 while Ironhide took Anna to school.

Sideswipe took to walking with them to carry out his double shift in the medbay with Ratchet, his glowering brother following behind to ensure he actually made it. The golden hued twin would snarl at Danny before going to his own shift.

The car thief merely shrugged off the gold twin's aggression and played cards with Lucy and Mia.

The humans would then spend the quiet morning playing cards whilst Callie worried about TC.

At 10:00 Grimlock would sneak away from whatever he did through the day (Callie had never dared ask) and bring one of his Dinobot brethren for _scritches_ from Lucy and Liz.

At exactly 10:10 Ratchet would chase the Dinobots off before returning to the medbay.

When noon rolled around, Lennox would bring the girls lunch and was kind enough to sit and eat with them. Only once had they broached the subject of what happened out on the road with Thundercracker, and that had been with Optimus Prime present to hear the story.

Callie knew she was being interrogated the moment the massive leader sat down; she had spent too many times inside a police interrogation not to.

Unlike police interrogators however, the Prime had been genuinely worried about the humans well being. He had watched with his big blue optics that had promised safety and spoke in low, gentle tones when he asked her what had happened.

So Callie told him. From beginning to end, Callie told the Prime what had happened out on the road with Thundercracker. She left nothing out, telling the Autobot leader the truth. The Prime had listened to her story, beginning to end, not once interrupting. Just listened to what the human had to say, being the first to believe her at her word.

At the end of it all, Optimus had nodded and told Callie that she should be proud of what she had accomplished. That no one in a very long time had tried to help the seeker and that she was very brave for doing so.

The Prime had promised to do all he could to ensure Thundercracker's safety and aid his return to the Decepticons. Again, Callie had insisted that she speak with the seeker before they shipped him out; Optimus had given her a long, measuring look before his agreement to the talk.

Callie had a feeling that something was up, but was just grateful that they A. Weren't in jail and B. She was allowed to speak with Thundercracker. The blonde just went with it, deciding that right now was not the time to make waves.

Then, Callie asked the Prime to tell her about their war. Like Callie, Optimus Prime left nothing out and didn't sugar coat Thundercracker's past.

Optimus had left his little impromptu meeting with Callie feeling a little better about the situation then she had before.

At 14:00 Hound would return from his recharge to take Liz out for another walk around the base.

15:00 brought on the guard change, Perceptor and Bluestreak would replace Cliffjumper and Windcharger.

Sideswipe was freed from the medbay at 16:00 and would go for a drive with Danny. At this time, Bluestreak would go for his own walk with Aleyah and Mia, leaving Lucy alone with Callie.

It was that time that Lennox would return with Anna to play until dinner rolled around. They would return to their rooms at 21:00 to begin the cycle again.

By day three, Callie was feeling itchy, twitchy and very, very trapped within the _Ark_. With a heavy sigh, she watched the Dinobots skulk down the hall after Ratchet again chased them away.

"This is wearing even _my_ patience thin." Callie nearly snarled; unlike the others in her family the blonde had yet to have a walk around the perimeter or take in any other view of the _Ark_ other then the medbay hall way.

Danny looked up from her poker game with Aleyah and Mia, Lucy watching her older cousins intensely, learning the game, to say, "Wearing thin? This is the best we've had it in a while Cal. We know we're not going to get shot at in here. We get three square meals a day. Get to hang out with alien robots that turn into cars and get to drive said changing cars." Callie rolled her blue eyes at her cousin, huffing in her annoyance, prompting her cousin to ask, "So what's your problem?"

Liz looked up from her spot on the floor, her laptop perched on her knobby knees with a frown. So far Callie and Danny had managed to _not_ fight and that was a near miracle; the small human had hoped that it peace would last just a little longer.

"My _problem_ is that in the three days that we've been here, I haven't been allowed to see Thundercracker." Callie snapped, sounding sulky even to herself.

It was Mia who looked up next, confusion coloring her pretty face, "But he's been unconscious since we've been here. He really wouldn't be good company unconscious."

Aleyah snorted as she won the round, collecting the rocks that were being used a gambling chips; Danny sighed and gave Mia a small frown but said nothing to her younger sister. Addressing Callie, the burgundy haired girl shrugged, "He was half dead by the time he made it to the garage, it's going to take time for him to come around again."

Callie sighed, frowning up at the ceiling, "I realize that but how do we know he's not awake or being hurt? I mean, these factions have been at war for centuries. How do we know that they haven't gone back on their word?"

All four of her cousins turned to stare at Callie with worried eyes. Mia bit her bottom lip, her big green eyes darting around the orange hall way, her voice lowering so that their guards couldn't hear her ask, "You don't think they'd do that. Do you?"

Drawing her dark blue eyes from the ceiling to look at her family again, Callie sighed, "I don't know. They could. I just wished I could know for sure."

Strained silence settled around the girls as Callie's words ran circles in their heads; they had been screwed over enough times to know that what the blonde said was true, despite how trustworthy the Prime at least seemed.

Liz bit her lip in her nervousness, her small fingers clung to her laptop like a life line as her timid whisper left her lips, "I could check."

Four pairs of eyes swung to look at Liz. Callie's blue eyes narrowed on her young cousin, "How?"

Liz suddenly looked down with a blush, her fingers tightening around her laptop. Her lower lip caught in her teeth, her brows furrowed with worry, "I could hack first into their WIFI system. It's a government algorithm, so certain aspects of it will be like the DMV's algorithm. I could get into their mainframe from there and redirect the video feed back from the medbay to my laptop."

Four blank looks met Liz, something that she was used to, being the only truly computer literate person in the group. The small blonde looked down, curling slightly into herself, "I could get the video from the medbay on my laptop."

"Seriously?" Callie asked; her dark blue eyes wide and shimmering with hope.

Liz looked up and nodded, "Can't really be that much harder than the CIA or FBI's systems and they have some of the best hackers working for them."

Callie licked her lips, her blue eyes shifting to Danny, looking for the car thief's opinion. A miniscule nod from Danny had Callie saying "Do it Liz. I want to know that TC is okay."

The others moved to crowd around Liz and after she nodded, her head went down and her fingers flew over her laptop. Even Lucy came close, her blue eyes locked on the laptop screen as Liz worked.

The freckle faced blonde frowned, her brow knitting for a moment, "For a secret base, their systems are severely lacking. I can think of another dozen hackers who could make this system dance." She gave a small shrug as her fingers skipped over the keys.

Just as quickly as she started, Liz was done. She gave a small, shy smile to her cousin and handed Callie the laptop, "Here Callie. He's perfectly safe."

The ex-smuggler took the laptop from her small cousin and let out a very audible sigh of relief when she saw Thundercracker; the seeker lay on his back, both wings reattached and the ragged hole in his side was completely repaired. Someone had painted his plating and it shone blue with the health of life.

Energon lines still ran into his prone body at his elbow and lines were attached to his chest to monitor his spark rate; his dark, off lined optics were a bit eerie to the human femme, but his lax, peaceful face brought comfort to Callie. The worry loosened from the blonde's chest that she hadn't realised had built up as she had waited for Thundercracker to wake. He was fine, perfectly fine, just as Optimus Prime had promised.

Callie watched as Ratchet did inventory, turning his helm every now and then to check on the downed seeker, while Sideswipe mopped the medbay floor singing some country song in a very off key note.

A smile spread over the girl's face as she settled against the orange wall, a small thread of trust uncurling from her center as she silently thanked the Prime for keeping his word.

"So, you good now?"

Callie looked up from the computer screen to meet Danny's grinning face.

The blonde grinned back as she relaxed, "Yeah, I'm good now."

Callie's head dipped back to the screen as Mia and Aleyah went back to playing their card game; the blonde was just happy to see Thundercracker whole and unharmed. Danny and Liz settled on one side of Callie while Lucy crawled into her lap.

Liz managed a shy grin as she watched Sideswipe dance around the medbay, using the massive mop as a dance partner, "Thundercracker is very pretty, now that he's not dying."

For the first time in three days, Callie managed a true smile, "He is." she agreed.

The moment of happiness was short lived however, as a pair of new bot's come flying around the corner and Callie knew they were busted; the one in the lead moving far too fast, with too much purpose to not be coming for them.

The larger one behind followed at an almost leisurely pace.

The first Autobot was as tall as Sideswipe with a white and red paint job; below the crimson Autobot symbol the white words 'Fire Chief' were splayed across his chest. His light blue optics narrowed in on the small huddle of girls and their computer as blue electricity arched from his little audio horns.

The second, larger Autobot followed behind with a patient look on his grey faceplate. The larger mech was bright, fire truck red and had pristine white shoulder wings.

The smaller of the two nearly shoved Cliffjumper out of the way as he stormed angrily to the humans, electricity still arcing.

"Red," came the deep, low voice of the larger mech, "calm down. Ya don't know if they're responsible."

The smaller mech snarled as he twisted to face his companion, "Who else could it be Inferno? No one else would be so stupid to hack into _my_ systems! Primus knows what these Decepticon-loving femmes are capable of."

The big mech called Inferno frowned as they stopped to glare down at the girls, "I dunno Red Alert. Sides is pretty dumb and he's hacked into yer systems before."

Red Alert gave his partner a flat look, his blue optics dull and narrowed with his irritation as his audio horns sparked. He shook his helm at his partner without responding before turning his glare down at the humans.

Callie didn't bother to look up from the monitor, too keen on watching Thundercracker as Ratchet finally snapped and wacked Sideswipe upside the helm for his awful singing.

"Which one of you did it!?" Came the harsh demand from Red Alert as three far too innocent looking faces tipped up to the Autobot.

Danny faked a hurt look, pressing her hand to her chest, "What are you talking about? What did we do?"

Inferno sighed, his dark blue optics rolling as his partner growled, his servos balling into fists, "Don't give me that, you Decepticon spy! You know what I should do!? I should sound the alarm and have the whole lot of you thrown into the brig! The whole lot of you could rot there for betraying your country, your planet, you…"

The mech's angry rant was cut off by a small, soft voice, but the words that were spoken cut Red Alert off mid rant. "Your systems are lacking."

Four simple words brought the rant from Red Alert to a dead stop; his light blue optics widened and his jaw dropped as he sputtered, "What! Lacking? How…how dare you!"

From behind, Inferno bit his lower lip in a desperate attempt _not_ to laugh at his partner's dumbfounded look.

Both Danny and Callie gave Liz a surprised look, the smallest blonde blushed and looking down. Although her voice was small and shy, her words were firm and sure, "Well they are lacking. If they weren't I wouldn't have been able to get around your fire walls and blocks." She risked a glance up at a very angry Red Alert and continued, "I can get into most of your systems from my laptop now."

"You...you cannot. I set up these systems. I'm the Autobot's Security Director for Pit's sake! You must be getting help from that Decepticon!"

Liz frowned suddenly, coming to sit a little taller, thoroughly insulted at the Autobots lack of faith in her hard earned ability. She may not be so open about what she could do, like her sister and cousin were, but she still had skills. She still held her own on the street. Her voice getting stronger, Liz raised her dark eyes to meet Red Alerts light blue. "I don't need a Decepticons help! Your systems are a joke; the FBI has a harder system to crack." That was not quite the truth, far from it in fact, but the angry Autobot didn't know that.

Red Alert gasped, his hands coming to his hips as he leaned forward and over Liz, "It is not!"

"Is so!" Liz said firmly as she took her lap top from Callie's calloused hands. She closed the video feed of the medbay, opening another program. With a determined look in her eyes, Liz's fingers flew over the keyboard.

Inferno watched with far too much amusement as Red Alert crossed his massive red and white arms as he scowled down at the small girl.

The hacker eventually grinned as she looked proudly up at the Security Director, "There." she said calmly handing the lap top back to Callie after opening the video feed back for the blonde to watch the medbay.

Red Alert blinked down at her with a frown, his tone mocking and sarcastic, "What? I don't see anything different."

Liz was calm and not bragging when she said "I implanted a virus that affects your reports."

As her family snickered, blue electricity burst from Red Alert's audio horns, "You did not." He very nearly sneered.

Callie sighed, going back to watching Thundercracker on the small screen of her sister's laptop.

Liz frowned up at the large Autobot, her blonde brows furrowing in hurt, why did everyone think she was incapable? "I did. Open any report and you'll see."

Narrowed blue optics focused in on the small blonde, his irritation causing his glitch to act up and his audio horns to spark uselessly again. Without saying a word, Red Alert pulled a data pad from subspace, firmly ignoring Liz's excited gasp at the object suddenly appeared and turned it on.

The Security Director turned the data pad on, opening the first report he came to; Prowl's security assessment that, ironically, regarded the very humans in front of him. But something had changed in the report and Red Alert could feel his optics widening and his irritation growing as he read the first line.

Audio receptors sparked in his growing rage as he read the second line of the report; it hadn't looked like that hours ago, but the report now read,

_Pink Rainbow Kittens human femmes will pose no new risk to Pink Rainbow Kittens current security situation. Personal recommendation is to have a guard at all times with Pink Rainbow Kittens human femmes at all times..._

Inferno frowned at his small partner as bright blue electricity sparked from his helm and his black servo tightened on the data pad. In a slow, forcibly calm voice, Red Alert managed to ask, "What in the name of the Unmaker did you do?"

Liz blushed as she looked down, more than a little proud that she had managed to pull that little stunt off so quickly, "It's a harmless virus, more of an irritation really. The program that I uploaded to your systems searches out a certain word, 'The' in this case and changes it to something else."

Red Alert dead panned and even the sparking paused momentarily, "So you chose 'Pink Rainbow Kittens'?"

Liz said something in response, her voice still soft and low and probably would equate to something 'But it was cute!' Her soft words were lost to Callie however as the blonde ignored her cousin in favor of watching the screen on her lap, willing Thundercracker to wake.

Ratchet suddenly froze from berating Sideswipe, his red helm tilting to the side as though listening to someone before bolting for the door. Liz and Red Alert stopped their bickering long enough to watch the Autobot medic bolt from the room and down the hall.

Sideswipe followed the medic at a slow swag, coming to lean against the open medbay door. Crossing his arms the front liner smirked, "What lit a fire under ol' Hatchet's aft?"

Everyone shrugged before going back to bickering. Red Alert's narrowed optics on Liz, "How should I know? I've been trying to get information out of these Decepticon spies!"

Liz frowned but it was Danny who spoke up first, "For the last time, we're not spies!"

Callie just sighed again and as Sideswipe smirked, liking Danny just a little more, the older blonde went back to watching Thundercracker.

That was until Ratchet returned, carrying an unconscious, strangely stiff Prowl while being tailed by a fretting Jazz.

The red and white mech snarled for everyone to move as he shoved past the group. Never stopping Ratchet shoved Sideswipe from the door way with the order to 'Keep Jazz out!' before allowing the medbay doors to swoosh shut.

The crimson front liner stood slightly dumbfounded at watching the medic carry his foster creator into the medbay as Ratchet's words set in. Keeping Jazz from Prowl after the tactician suffered a complete logical freeze up, "Oi! That's not fair!"

Jazz stared worriedly at the closed medbay doors, his musical voice filled with concern, "Ah dunno what happened! We were just in his office going over reports when he suddenly glitched an' froze up!"

Concern crossed Sideswipe's face as his brow furrowed, "He just glitched? No reason?"

With growing concern, Jazz's visor dimmed, "No. None that Ah can see."

As the front liner and the Autobot TIC stared at the medbay doors, both silently hoping that whatever had put Prowl in such a state was not permanent and praying to Primus that Prowl's logical center hadn't finally given out, causing the black and white to be frozen for all eternity.

Unbeknownst to the two, all others in the hall had frozen at Jazz's concerned words. In a span of a heart beat the other girls crowed around Callie, watching Ratchet bent over the tactician's helm as he worked.

They watched as Ratchet worked at unfreezing the tactician's processor and his stiff, strong body loosened, becoming lax bit by bit, limb by limb.

"This is your fault!" Red Alert suddenly snapped, drawing everyone's attention back to him as he pointed an accusatory finger at the humans, "That was your plan wasn't! Weaken our forces by taking out our command staff. Well it's not going to happen 'Con!"

Danny growled as Jazz and Sideswipe turned to face the others in confusion, "We are not Decepticons!"

"Liar!" Red Alert hissed, trying to take a step closer to the girls, only to be stopped by Inferno.

"Easy Red. Ya got no proof that the girls did it on purpose. Calm down now."

"We're not spies!" This time it was Aleyah who snapped.

"Wait. What are y'all talking about?" Jazz asked slowly, his visor brightening as his gaze flickered between the humans and Red Alert. Callie didn't bother to look up from the computer screen; Ratchet was still leaning over Prowl's relaxed form.

What had caught the blonde's attention was the slight twitch from Thundercracker.

"I'll tell you what's going on! We rescued a bunch of Decepticon sympathisers and that one…" Red Alert snarled, jabbing a black digit at Liz, "purposely inflicted harm on a commanding officer!"

Liz's big brown eyes widened in shock and hurt at the Security Directors harsh words, "I didn't! I…I didn't mean to."

The small blonde sunk in close to Danny, using her older sister and her big personality like a shield from the angry Autobot. As always, Danny was the first to rise to stand up for her sister, "Yeah, she didn't mean to! You're the ones with the lacking systems!" the car thief paused before adding, "Besides, the virus should not have been able to hurt Prowl. How do we know Liz was responsible for it?"

Jazz and Red Alert shared a look before turning their attention back to the humans. Sideswipe shifted nervously behind his superiors as Jazz answered, worry still coloring his tone, "Prowl has a glitch. If he encounters something tha' his logic center cannot deem as logical, he'll freeze up an' his processor will crash."

Callie ignored the stunned looks from her cousins as she watched Thundercracker with concerned eyes as he twitched again. His sudden stirring drawing the medic's attention back to the prone seeker from the still unconscious SIC.

"Ooooooh." Came Danny's voice as she glanced at her little sister, "Maybe it is your fault then."

Liz looked stricken, horrified at that prospect. Her small head snapped up to Jazz, her already pale face becoming chalky white in her panic as the saboteur's visor flashed black, "I'm sorry!" She blurted, "I…I didn't mean to."

"What happened?" Jazz asked, his low, dangerous voice had Liz gaping at the angered Autobot.

The Security Director cut in before Liz could defend herself, "She hacked our systems and implanted a virus." He handed Jazz the report he had been looking at, "I think they were sent here by the Decepticons."

Jazz's gaze flicked down to the data pad, looking rather unimpressed at what had caused his mate's current state. The saboteur shot an annoyed look to Sideswipe when the front liner snickered when he saw what Liz had done by reading over Jazz's shoulder.

Callie continued to watch Thundercracker, her small body tensing as she watched him stir and his garnet optics blink online.

"What Ah want ta know," Jazz's cool, calm voice bit out, causing everyone to flinch, "is why a hacker had access ta her bloody laptop."

Red Alert's smug look melted to shock as his jaw moved up and down, looking for an answer, "I didn't know she was a hacker." Came his small, disappointed voice.

"Yer suppose ta be check'en everyone's background when they come inta base." Jazz hissed, his now dark visor flashing dangerously.

Red Alert, one not to be cowed, puffed his armor up in an effort to look bigger, sneered, "Of course I did! The only thing I found in their legal records was those two," he jabbed a digit at the older females as Callie eased Lucy into Mia's lap, "and that was all drunk and disorderly arrests. They were never arrested for anything more than that!"

"But," came Jazz's dark, calm voice, "we _know_ they've done more. Ah've seen them do more."

Red Alert bristled, "I cross referenced every petty crime and theft ring I could find in every city they've been in and found next to nothing! There was no reason to believe she was a hacker."

"But clearly, she is."

A small, quiet voice drew the Autobot's attention for a moment, "It's not Red Alert's fault," Liz said, still half hidden by Danny's muscular body, "We always made sure to never use our real names. We never drank while doing...illegal things and made sure that nothing could ever be linked to our real names."

Jazz's dark gaze turned back to the Security Director, "Why don't we know this already?"

The saboteur's dark, nasty gaze that promised retribution for his mate's pain caused Red Alert to flinch and take a step back; his back plating clanging softly into Inferno's front as the smaller mech almost pressed into his larger partner. His voice however, did not lose its edge, "I realize that you are worried about your bond mate Jazz," at this Callie gasped and tore her eyes from the laptop to stare at the Autobot TIC in surprise, "but that does not give you the right to blame me."

Danny leaned close to Callie, softly asking "What's a bond mate?"

Callie's dark blue eyes flicked down to the image of Thundercracker as he struggled to sit up, a confused look on his face plates, "I'll tell you later." The blonde told her cousin quietly.

Jazz's visor flickered between light blue to black, his frame tensing as though to fight, when he froze suddenly. His helm canted to the side as though listening to something that only he could hear before the tension drained from his body and his visor returned to its bright azure color.

Red Alert saw the sign of what that meant, Prowl's glitch was not near as bad as first thought and he had to be conscious again. Short of sedating the saboteur, that was the only thing that would have calmed Jazz down.

His tone was moody and almost angry as he snapped "Fine. But we need ta do a more in depth back ground check. The hacker shouldn't have had access ta a laptop while here." His systems cooled as he calmed, crossing his arms in an almost sulk.

Liz frowned as she again tried to explain why Red Alert would find nothing besides what he already had while Red Alert just looked perplexed that Liz was trying to stand up for his lack of precision.

Callie just sighed and calmly went back to watching Thundercracker, relief sweeping though her entire being as she watched the seeker make it to a complete sitting up position, the energon line still in his arm. The ex-smuggler's sweet, blessed relief was quickly ruined when Ratchet stormed from Prowl's still prone form and whacked the seeker upside the head with a wrench.

In a mix of horror and shock, Callie watched as Thundercracker's dark helm slammed down to his chest; his dark hands shot up to the new dent in the back of his helm. The seeker's face shot up to meet the crazy medic and although Callie could not hear it, she knew Ratchet was giving Thundercracker what for.

'Screw that,' Callie thought bitterly, 'Ratchet could get in line.'

She handed the laptop back to Liz, the order "Fix it!" was barked out before the small blonde marched angrily towards the medbay doors. No one tried to stop Callie from going into the medbay as they knew there had to be a reason for it.

As the doors swooshed open, Callie couldn't bring herself to care what that reason might be.

()()()

The first thing Thundercracker knew when he floated from the darkness and into conscious light was that he was whole again. He didn't have to see it, he could just feel it; he could feel his abdominal plating smooth and warm against his frame. He could feel the wide expansion of his wings at his back and his pectoral vents working perfectly as he breathed.

Processor booting up, string after string of code and repairs done filtered through his HUD, all reading efficiency of 100%

Even his tank was full. Pit, even his reserve tanks were full. That hadn't happened since leaving Cyberton. Mentally brushing aside all the code, he could go through it all later; the seeker groaned and began to get his optics working.

Whatever drugs had been used to keep him sedated, still floated around his system and it felt like a herculean struggle just to get his optics to online. His ruby red optics blinked on once, twice before finally managing to stay online on his third attempt.

He was met with the blurry orange of the ceiling and relief washed over the proud seeker for a moment; it hadn't been a dream. Callie had managed to drag his broken, beaten, worn body half way across the county and had made it all the way to the Autobot's base.

Looking up at the orange above him, Thundercracker forced his optics to focus; the plates of the ceiling coming in clear and sharp above him.

Sighing softly, Thundercracker struggled to sit up, not noticing how eerily silent the medbay had become. He was sure he had heard singing; awful singing, sometime ago and the seeker couldn't help but wonder if there had been an attack on the base. Why else would it appear to be so deserted?

As the blue armoured mech managed to make it to a sitting up position, he vaguely wondered if he could slip from the Autobot base without being noticed and make it back to _Nemesis_. His spark twisted in his casing as he thought how Callie and Lucy would be better off and safer with the Autobots. He had no doubt lost her love and affection when his true identity as a Decepticon was revealed; he would not prolong her pain any longer then necessary. That was the least he could do for the human that had saved his miserable life.

It was selfish, he knew, but Thundercracker knew he couldn't face Callie. He couldn't bear to see her hate filled blue eyes narrow on him. Not when she had looked at him as a hero when he had saved her; but that moment had passed. It was time for him to leave and the sooner the better; before she found out he was awake.

All coherent thought and plans of escape where ripped from Thundercracker's mind as a harsh growl and a loud _clang_ echoed through the room, which was followed by mind numbing pain.

The large seeker felt something hard hit the back of his helm, smashing his chin into the chest, causing his processor to ring. Black servos came up to clutch at the spot on his helm that had been bashed in as dark, angry red optics shot up to meet angry blue of the Autobot medic.

"Have you lost your Pit stained mind medic!" the seeker snarled as unwanted lubricant welled in his optics; he already had to deal with leaving his humans, Thundercracker wasn't really in the mood for dealing with the temperamental Autobot as well.

Unflustered, Ratchet clutched his wrench in one hand as he leaned all his weight onto one leg in a stance Callie surely would have called 'sassy'. Sighing softly, Thundercracker ignored Ratchet for a moment as he purged that thought from his mind. He needed to stop thinking and worrying about Callie. After today, she was no longer his problem. That thought made his gut and spark twist painfully but the reality was that he had his trine to take care of and he needed to get home to them.

There was just no other way.

Plastering on an angry front to cover the bitter disappointment and sadness, Thundercracker snarled at the medic again, "Well? Have you?"

Ratchet plainly ignored the scathing words from the seeker as he pressed his fists to his cherry red hips with a snarl, "Do you have _any_ idea how close to meeting your maker you came? You were mere kliks from falling into stasis from energon loss! I'm fairly sure that the only thing that saved your life was your little human!"

The large seeker snarled again, "Right and whose fault was that _Autobot_! I certainly didn't shoot myself out of the sky!"

What irritated Thundercracker more than the equally irritated medic, was the medic's nonchalant, 'whatever' attitude. Ratchet had crossed his thick arms with a shrug, "You could have commed your trine to come for you."

The retort stung more than the proud seeker was willing to admit; he had felt, if only briefly before the darkness took him, the deep seeded _want_ from Starscream and Skywarp to come for him. Had felt their horror when Megatron ordered them to leave him where he had crashed.

Bitter feelings rose from his full tank as hatred towards his leader swept through his spark. The seeker flinched at the medic's harsh words and for a moment even Ratchet looked abashed. Just as quickly the medic returned to his irritated self, although the anger seemed to soften if only just, and Thundercracker forced his anger back into its dark little box.

His anger and rage towards Megatron and what he had done had never served Thundercracker in the past and he always forced it back. Being angry at the bastardisation of the Decepticon name did nothing but rile Skywarp and send Starscream spiralling down into a depression.

Venting a sigh, Thundercracker glared at the medic as he continued to rub at the back of his dented helm; his blue wings drooped down at the thought of his wing mates. Primus he missed them.

Instead of retorting, the seeker mumbled, "When did I get re-painted?"

Ratchet sighed as well, his optics glancing up at the ceiling, "I did it yesterday. Don't like leaving a job half done."

The seeker glanced at his freshly painted wing before looking back to the Autobot, "You even re-painted my Decepticon symbol."

Ratchet snorted, still looking up, "Always do my job right."

Thundercracker smirked at the medic, "Well now, that's almost half way to being nice, and here was I thinking the fearsome Autobot medic was all bite and no bark."

That drew the medic's attention back to the seeker and a grin slowly crept over dove colored lips, "Watch it 'Con, I can still reformat you."

The medbay doors swooshed open, but Thundercracker didn't bother to look back at who entered, "But you spent far too much time putting me back together, it would be such a waste."

His voice was calm and smooth as he smirked at the medic. Ratchet looked past the seeker, his own smirk growing further as though he was waiting for something. "True. However something tells me I may not have to do much work to have you undone."

Frowning, the seeker's brows drew together in confusion, "What?"

A small cough drew Thundercracker's attention from Ratchet to the doors. At first the seeker spotted no one, but having spent time with humans constantly under foot, he looked down…and froze.

Thundercracker was a brave warrior, although he had not felt that way in quite some time. He had faced certain death on more than one occasion and had always come up on top. He had looked down the barrel of an Autobot gun and neither flinched or froze; he had reacted and killed the threat.

He had flown through some of the worst weather and fiercest battles with a shrug; content in the knowledge that he would not be the one to die that day simply because he always reacted, always fought. Yet when the dark blue seeker's dark red optics fell onto Callie's irritated face, he froze. All coherent thought just stopped as her dark blue eyes bore into him but he felt something loosen around his spark when he saw no hate in her dark blue orbs.

The blonde shifted her gaze from the seeker to the medic. "Are you supposed to be beating your patients, or is that just special treatment for the Decepticons?"

Thundercracker couldn't find it in himself yet to unfreeze as the medic snorted, "He is hardly special. After all, I am just a lowly medic," Ratchet released a dramatic, long suffering sigh, "How else am I suppose to keep all the big, scary front liners in line if I don't beat them from time to time!?"

Callie's stern face broke just a little as a small smirk flittered across her pale face, "Of course." The blonde paused for a moment, "Optimus said I could talk to Thundercracker. Is now a good time?"

The seeker sputtered as his processor finally unfroze, "That is not a good idea." He snapped, hearing the edge in the girls' voice.

The Decepticon was promptly ignored as Ratchet looked down at the girl, "I suppose." Came his slow response as his gaze shifted to Prowl's prone form, "Optimus did say you wanted to speak with him."

"I'll call you if Prowl wakes up. But there's a fight brewing outside the medbay." Callie shrugged at Ratchet's sudden concerned look, "Liz hacked into your systems and freaked out Red Alert. Jazz got irritated at Red Alert for not knowing that Liz is a hacker and Sideswipe is laughing." The blonde paused again before adding, "Which is really not helping."

Ratchet blinked at the blonde and sighed, "I'll go deal with the children. You have until I get back to figure things out with your seeker."

Again Thundercracker sputtered at being called Callie's seeker but was again ignored as the medic stomped from the medbay. Both Thundercracker and Callie could hear the multiple angry voices that were suddenly silenced by Ratchet's harsh snapping.

The voices were silenced as the medbay doors swooshed shut, trapping the seeker in with the human he had come to care about.

Now alone with each other, neither the seeker nor the human really knew what to say or how to act around the other. Both avoided looking at the other for a moment, staring at opposite walls; Callie rubbed at her upper arm.

The seeker sighed and forced himself to look at the small blonde; she looked even smaller than before now that she was in the Autobot medbay.

Callie took a deep, calming breath before she looked up at the seeker and again Thundercracker braced himself for the scalding hate to come, but it never did. Callie just looked tired and worn out.

"I thought the Autobots would have taken better care of you." The Seeker mumbled, his helm canting to study her and put off the inevitable.

Callie rolled her own eyes with a huff, "Are you going to lift me up or I am going to have to find my own way up?"

Thundercracker frowned at her as she walked to stand by his pede, hands on her hips and her eyes tired looking. The seeker leaned over and lowered his hand, palm up to allow Callie to climb on to it before lifting her up to the berth.

Once settled beside the seeker and her feet kicking out, Callie leaned back on her hands while Thundercracker leaned forward; elbows on his knees, head in his hands.

The awkward, stuffy silence filled the medbay and the worry curled back around Thundercracker's spark in its tight grip.

"The Autobots should have taken better care of you." He grumbled again.

"They did take good care of us. Way better than they should have." Callie snapped, suddenly feeling very weary and not wanting to fight.

Thundercracker snorted at her, "Well you still look terrible, they should have been doing a better job of it."

Dark blue eyes snapped up to the Seeker and she frowned up at him, "Thanks TC," the Seeker's spark felt lighter at the nick name despite the sarcasm that tainted her voice, "And I look like crap because I've been worrying about _you_!"

Surprise filtered through the seeker, "You shouldn't have. I'm fine."

"Yeah, but you were like half dead when they brought you in. Of course I worried!" she snapped, "Don't be stupid."

Blinking in surprise at Callie's irritated face, Thundercracker muttered. "You actually worried?"

The blonde sighed and looked up, "Of course I did. Why wouldn't I?"

Thundercracker's optics dropped to his knees with a shrug, "You know what I am."

Callie was silent for a moment and Thundercracker off-lined his optics, waiting for the rage and anger to come. He waited for the shoe to drop and the blonde's patience to turn to the hatred. Callie, as always was full of surprises, "You don't seem to be too angry over what I did."

Red optics blinked back on in surprise as images of spattering blood and Callie pulling the trigger flashed in his mind. He remembered feeling so weak and useless and the seeker did not like it. He should have been able to protect his human from such a pathetic attack.

"You and I are very similar TC. More so than I think you realise." Callie shrugged, looking back to her knees.

The seeker paused for a moment, before asking, "You did more than just 'watch the girls' in your little life of crime, didn't you?"

Callie shrugged, "Yeah. Yeah I did."

As much as the seeker wanted to know exactly what Callie did as a smuggler, there was still one burning question he wanted answered, "Why do you have guns stored all over the garage?"

Callie looked up, meeting his firm, steely gaze with one of her own, "I want to know about Megaton."

For a moment, the seeker and the human stared at each other, glowering really as a battle of wills took place between them. It was Thundercracker who broke the silence, his slow voice softly stating, "I think it's time to play another game of Quid Pro Quo."

Callie smirked up at him but it seemed too tight for her usual easy going grin, "Alright, but you go first."

A frown pulled down on Thundercracker's face plates, "I don't think so. I asked first."

It was Callie's turn to frown then and her eyes glanced up as she considered her words, "Fine. What exactly do you want to know?"

That was an easy question to answer Thundercracker thought to himself. "What's with the guns and what did you do as a smuggler?"

Callie's grin returned when she said, "Alright, easy enough."

Thundercracker watched as her blonde head tilted to the side as she thought about her answer, her blue eyes going out of focus for a moment as she did. Eventually her well thought out words came in her usual slow explanation, "One really has to do with the other."

She paused again as she thought about her past, trying to work it so the seeker would understand, "In our little crew we all had a job. Mac was our handler and got in contact with international smugglers for work. Danny, Dennis and George were the thieves," Thundercracker pretended he didn't hear the blondes voice crack at the thought of her ex-mate. Rage caused his energon to boil and he wished that the human was nearby so that Thundercracker could have ended his pathetic life.

"Ronnie, Frank and myself were state side smugglers. We could move anything anywhere without being caught." She paused for a moment before adding, "We once moved a Mustang across three states without it being seen once. We created a fake floor in the transport truck we were using to hide it."

Callie's grin faded as she continued, ready to put it all out there, "Liz was our resident hacker. Always made sure the thieves had green lights, helped us get past security systems and track down merchandise. She would also hack into multimillion dollar companies' bank accounts and take once cent off of every dollar they made if we couldn't get work. I know it wasn't much, but you take one cent from a few million dollars, well, it's a lot of cents."

The blonde paused with a shrug and Thundercracker could see how his little human struggled to continued, "Aleyah was our eyes and ears. She would collect gossip from the street, always made sure that no one poached on our turf."

Thundercracker had a feeling where she was going and managed to shove down on his worry, she had after all survived her past. With sarcasm dripping from his voice asked, "Don't tell me the little green eyed one with no survival sense helped too."

Callie's grin came back, "She did." There was a pause before the blonde asked, "Would you say that Mia is pretty?"

Confused the seeker shrugged, "I suppose, for a human."

Callie snorted, "Well men find her to be beautiful and naturally if you're that pretty, you must be stupid and helpless."

Thundercracker managed to hold his own snide comment about Callie's cousin, allowing the blonde to continue, "Well Mia knows how people think about her, knows that no one ever expects her to be smart or dangerous. So we used that." Callie looked down, almost sad, "She always was a great distraction. You have no idea how many times we were able to get around a security desk when said security guard is staring at Mia's tits or ass, or so desperate to help the damsel in distress that they never suspected they were being played."

The seeker felt his ruby optics widen, "No way."

Callie snorted at her guard's words, "Yep. Simplest trick in the book and it works the best." She looked up to meet his optics, her face still looking tired, "And it never, ever failed."

The seeker felt confusion welling up alongside his concern. If Callie had been at this for so long, how many other enemies would want to do her harm? What if Danny failed to protect her? What if Callie failed to protect herself?

Thundercracker managed to push his worry away, not wanting to upset Callie or to have her thinking that she was incapable of caring for herself; that was clearly far from the truth. "How did the whole system work?"

Callie gave him a small shrug, "Easy works best. Our handler, Mac, would contact the Interns…code for International smuggler…and set up a deal. Sometimes the Interns would contact handlers they knew had good crews, but most often than not the handlers would find the work. The thieves would plan out the job, using Liz to help. Once the job was done and the vehicle was in our possession the Stacie's…State Side smugglers… would take the vehicle from the state we stole it from to a different state to meet up with the Interns. From there the Interns would take the vehicle to its final destination."

The blonde gave another shrug, "Like I said, easy."

Thundercracker felt his optics narrow in on his human, one he had come to care about like a little sister, "And the guns?"

Callie's face contorted into a mix of rage and fear, "We had a bad incident during a job. A ha...a handler from Louisiana needed help obtaining several cars for an Intern from Europe." She sighed and shook her head, blonde hair flying around her small head. "We normally didn't work outside of Vegas or Los Angeles. We didn't poach, way too many bad things happened to poachers." Another small shrug, "But this handler was a friend of Mac's and he was desperate. His crew couldn't handle the job and he didn't know anyone else who wouldn't screw him over."

Thundercracker felt something akin to rage and worry fill his spark as a bad feeling took over while Callie continued, "The job went fine, went off without a hitch actually. I got back from the drop off point in time to say good bye to George and Dennis. We never traveled together, so Mac, Frank and Ronnie went ahead of us. It was my job, so Frank and Ronnie didn't come for the transport that time. George and Dennis went back to Vegas a day after those three left and us girls should have gone the day after those two left. We got paid and we were just hanging out and relaxing in our motel. Lucy was with us." Callie's face dropped to her knees at that truth.

Surprise broke through the wall of worry and Thundercracker felt his optics widen, "Lucy? You took Lucy with you! Primus Callie, what were you thinking? She could have been hurt!"

Callie scrubbed at her face for a moment before looking up at the angered seeker, her voice was soft and sad, "I know TC, I know. But it's not like I could find a baby sitter." She sighed, regrets of her past heavy in her heart, "I did the best with what I had."

The seeker found he couldn't stay too mad the human. What had he and Starscream done to keep Skywarp safe when the war was just starting out, before the youngling had gotten his mechling upgrades? Some things, many things, Thundercracker was not proud of but he had done it in order to keep his now mate safe.

Venting a deep sigh, the seeker nodded, "Alright, alright, I get it. What happened?"

Callie's own sigh left her small body as her feet kicked out, "Two men who worked in the Louisiana, the same ones who lost the job in the first place, came to have a very unfriendly chat with us. We were...unprepared for an attack."

The seeker watched as Callie tensed, her small hands balling into fists, "Before any of us could get to a weapon they shot me twice in the shoulder. They just walked in, leveled their guns and popped off two rounds." She paused before she muttered "Took me twelve hours to realise that my collar bone was broken from the impact."

Rage came back tenfold at the thought that _his_ human had been harmed; protectiveness rose from Thundercracker's center and he knew he would not leave his human alone to face the world on her own anymore. Enough people had abandoned and hurt them and he would endeavour to not be added to that list again, "What do you mean they shot you!"

Callie's head slowly bobbed up and down. She pulled back the side of her tank top to show off two, small roundish scars that rippled on the smooth skin of her shoulder, "It hurt. Burned like acid." She sighed as she let the cloth settled back over the scars, "But it hurt more to have them removed."

A snarl left the seeker as he jerked his helm to face her, "You didn't go to the hospital!"

Callie snorted, "Hospitals are expensive and ask questions like 'how did you get shot?'" the blonde rolled her eyes, the sarcasm drying up, "Once we got everything cleaned up we went to a street medic and had the bullets pulled out. Down side was there was nothing for the pain. That hurt. Had to go back to have him check my collar bone and I don't think it ever healed right."

Thundercracker gave her an almost disbelieving look, "You allowed some unclean human to dig around your shoulder, your _organic_ shoulder without something to sedate you or to dull the pain?"

Callie gave the seeker a weak smile before slowly saying, "Yeah. Aleyah and Danny held me down while they pulled the bullets out. We were...pretty wild when we were younger."

Shoulders and wings dropping, Thundercracker scrubbed at his own face with an annoyed chirr, "So what in the Pit happened to the guys that shot you!"

"Oh. Well. They're dead. It was pure luck that Aleyah happened to be in the bathroom when they burst into the room we were in. The rest of us couldn't get to our own weapons, they were in our bags. After they shot me, the two of them gave us this big long speech about not poaching on another's patch and Aleyah managed to get to her bag that had her glock."

Callie sighed, her eyes tired and sad, "Lucy was so young and scared. She just started screaming when she saw Aleyah, but it allowed her to get to the glock and put two rounds into each of them. After that Danny, Aleyah and I dragged the bodies out to the swamp and fed the bodies to the gators. Mia and Liz bleached the room before we left." Another snort left the girl, "It wasn't until after we got rid of the bodies did Danny and Aleyah take me to the medic."

The blonde shrugged, her eyes slowly coming up to meet Thundercracker's. "Gators ate good that night though."

The repaired seeker just stared at his human with wide, shocked optics. He could see how open and glassy her eyes were and he knew she was just as worried as he. She was bracing herself for rejection, just like he was.

Sighing, Thundercracker relaxed next her, despite his anger and rage and the need to do violence to protect Callie that built up in his systems, "It's okay Callie, no one will hurt you again." It was a vow that he was determined to keep.

A brittle smile flickered over Callie's face before it faded, "What's with Megatron?"

Holding her gaze, the seeker managed to nod. "Starscream and I were mechlings, teenagers, when we met Megatron. Skywarp was still a youngling, a child, but almost ready for his mechling upgrades." He paused, choosing his own words as carefully as Callie had, "We were still so young, so hurt." The seeker didn't see Callie's flash of anger at the thought of someone hurting her guard. "So it was easy for us to fall in line with Megatron. He was very charismatic and swore vengeance for Vos. Swore to battle the oppression of the Autobot regime and at the time, he did just that. He really did want freedom for the lower casts. He wanted freedom for the fliers."

Regret flooded Thundercracker's spark, he could have chosen differently, could have maybe made a difference but he had been so young, so angry. So, so hurt, just like so many other Decepticons today. "After the destruction of Praxus, things changed. Megatron was…I don't know…almost obsessing over Starscream, and he was getting meaner, crueller. Made us do things that just were not right, bombing neutral cities was the least of the things we did. It was either do or die and I did not live through the destruction of Vos just to be killed by my master." He cringed at the word, "I figured if they never cared about me or my kind, why should I care about them?"

Callie's expression softened and she pressed her hand to the seekers blue thigh in silent support, "By the time Optimus became Prime, Starscream was almost Megatron's second, and Megatron had no interest in achieving peace. He got a taste of power and destruction and became no better than the original Autobot council." The seeker vented a long sigh, "When Prime offered peace, Megatron literally spat in his face. Told him peace would never be achieved so long as he lived. He was right and now our war has spilt onto your planet."

Thundercracker sighed again, purposefully leaving out so much detail; Callie didn't need to know the extent of his distasteful past, "By the time we realized that Megatron had lost his mind, it was too late. We were trapped by our decision. We still are."

There it was. The truth behind the Decepticon cause and just as Callie liked her work, it was simple. He had left out so much detail, stories of abuse to both his own soldiers and prisoners. Left out the worst things he had done, she didn't need to know his sordid past, "The bastard took the best part of each of us and twisted it."

The seeker fell silent again, and when Callie realized that he was not going to be forthcoming with information, she began asking questions, "Where you there for Praxus?"

His dark helm fell to his chest as he off lined his optics, "Yes."

He felt her shifting beside his leg as Callie leaned against his blue armour, "Do you regret it?" she whispered.

Swallowing hard and feeling like a knot had formed in his throat, Thundercracker managed to nod, his voice a rough whisper, "Every cycle since I woke up the following cycle and realized what I had done."

Thundercracker noticed Prowl twitch suddenly at his admission, then fall still again.

Callie nodded and sighed. She could hear the deep seated regret in the seekers voice, the very distinct wish he could go back and make things better, do things differently, and the blonde pushed on, "I've heard rumors that Megatron hurts Starscream."

Ruby optics popped back online in surprise as his helm whipped around to look down at Callie with a hard flinch, "Who, who told you that?"

Her gaze unwavering, Callie calmly looked up at the seeker's light colored face, "Optimus Prime. He said he's seen it."

Hissing in his anger, Thundercracker snapped, "Prime should mind his own business and not gossip over Decepticon politics."

Callie was steadfast in her pursuit for answers, "But is he right? Was Optimus telling the truth?"

Sighing, his voice barley audible, Thundercracker's voice was a harsh whisper. "Yes."

Hot rage flushed through Callie, and the seeker could feel her small body heat in her anger. "Has he ever hurt you?"

The blue seeker snorted, avoiding Callie's eyes. "He has but often it is Starscream that takes the brunt of his anger." Massive shoulders shrugged up. "But we have all faced his wrath one time or another."

Thundercracker felt his spark twist in worry at what Callie must think of him. No doubt she thought of him as weak, foolish for sticking with a leader that treated them like dirt, one who took pleasure in hurting his troops.

Thundercracker could feel Callie curl a little tighter against his leg, leaning against the warm metal with a sigh, "Then why stay?"

Her confusion was palpable and it caused the 'oh so proud' seeker to sigh. "Where would we go? To the Autobots to be treated just as bad or worse?" a harsh snort left the seeker. "Besides, Starscream is Megatron's second, he would never allow him to leave, he obsesses over my trine leader and Starscream won't rest until Megatron is dead by his servo."

Venting a sigh, something he had been doing more of as of late, before his broken whisper wheezed out. "I have to get back to my trine. Something has happened to them and they need me." The unspoken words of 'but I don't want to leave you either' hung heavily between them.

There had to be a way to keep both his trine safe and his humans.

Gathering his courage, the seeker looked down at his human; her small, pale face was focused on her knees, deep in thought. Worry gript his spark but each time it did, it clenched less and less.

"You need to leave Megaton, Thundercracker. You need to get your trine and leave." The blonde's head tilted up, her eyes surprisingly hard despite her weariness. "Fuck Megatron. Get Starscream and Skywarp and bail."

A small whine left the blue seeker, "Callie, we can't..."

"You can!" She snapped. "Have you ever tried to convince them to leave?"

"Well no,"

"Then you won't know until you try TC, and if he's hurting you guys, you have to leave." Callie paused, her voice becoming stronger. "He doesn't deserve your loyalty."

Thundercracker hissed with brittle rage, "It's not him that I'm loyal to, it's Starscream that I am loyal to and he won't leave."

"But you don't know that." Callie pushed, "You just need to convince him that you have to leave, that he needs to leave."

"Where would we go? Come to the frelling Autobots?" The seeker hissed, his pride already dented and bruised, "I won't wear that hideous Autobot insignia."

Blue eyes rolled in exasperation, "Have you ever heard the saying 'You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain'?"

The seeker sighed and shook his head in the negative. Callie shrugged and continued, "I heard it from the Batman movie. Anyways, that's what's happened to you. You were a hero when you tried to save your people, and you did try TC, no one can fault you for that," the seeker winced at her words, but Callie ploughed on, "Then you became the villain when you stuck with Megatron. You became the thing you hated the most, you became the bad guy, the oppressor, everything you fought against. I think it's time to be a hero again, to come back to who you really are."

Spark clenching at her words, the seeker remained silent and allowed Callie to continue, "I'm not suggesting you wear the Autobot badge TC, it would dishonor those who died at the hands of the previous council, I'm saying to bring honor back to the Decepticon name. Wear your purple badge with honor; show them all that they are wrong." Her hand jabbing out at the Autobot medbay, "Become...become Prime's Decepticons."

A hard snort burst from the seeker. "Prime's Decepticons? That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard of!"

Callie snorted, "I'm sure that I have said and suggested much more ridiculous things to you before this."

The blonde laid her small head against his thigh with a sigh. Her blue eyes closed as she snuggled into the warm, blue metal. She was silent for a few minutes, simply listening to the seekers now perfectly running systems, "I like you TC." Callie started suddenly, "And I trust you. I don't trust anyone, but…but I trust you. You protected Lucy and me when we needed you the most, when you really didn't have to."

The human curled a little further into the seeker. "I don't want you to leave." The seeker's spark clenched. "You've become.." she paused with a pained grimace, "a part of my family, like the over protective big brother I never had. Which is really messed up if you think about it, it's only been like a week."

The seeker snorted at her comment, but remained silent, allowing her to continue. "And I don't let members of my family be hurt." Callie shifted to look up at him, her blue eyes determined, "First of all, what good will you do your trine if they _and_ you are being hurt. It changes nothing. Just take your trine and leave. Secondly, tell Starscream that if he really wants to defeat Megatron, join Optimus."

Thundercracker felt his metal brow lift, "How the Pit will Starscream defeat Megatron by joining Optimus?"

The blonde snorted, "First off, it would piss Megatron off but think about it, Starscream has detailed knowledge of Megatron and how to stop him. Optimus wants this war over," another shrug of her shoulder, "I see a partnership right there if you'd all just pull your heads outta your asses."

A hiss left the seeker, "We have been at war a very long time, defecting is not that easy."

Callie snorted, unworried and unimpressed by his argument, "On the streets, allies changed all the time. Who tried to shoot you one week was working a deal with you the next," she gave a small unconcerned wave of her hand, "You just deal with it. Besides, Sideswipe helped you in the garage didn't he? He didn't have to but he still did."

The seeker sighed, his temper abating. "He did. Don't know why but he did."

"Well, that means something. If a single front liner is willing to help you, an enemy for eons, Prime has to be willing to help. If only you'd try."

Thundercracker frowned as he looked down, fidgeting. Could this work, would the Prime aid them if they were to escape Megatron's rule? Would Starscream even come with them if they could?

"Besides," Callie said suddenly, drawing Thundercracker's attention once again, "If you were to get the courage to leave, maybe other Decepticons would too. Would follow you here and stand against Megatron." The blonde paused for effect before delivering her final blow, "Besides, it's the only way to keep Skywarp and Starscream safe. Megatron will only keep hurting them if you don't do something. Convince Starscream to leave."

Thundercracker sighed, the need to get to his trine pulling hard in his chest; his duty to protect them and his want to protect Callie and Lucy were constantly at odds, pulling him in two different directions.

The massive seeker leaned his elbows on his knees, scrubbing his grey faceplates, "Callie," he sighed, "you've lost your pit spawned mind. It would never work, couldn't work."

The blonde snorted, unimpressed. "Only because you won't try, of course you're going to fail when you don't try."

Peeling his face away from his palms, Thundercracker looked over at the girl, his wings drooping just a little, "Let's just say I do join Prime and his little band of fools. Let's just say that I can convince my trine mate and bonded to come with me. What then? What do we do when we get here? And why should we put up with the Autobot crap we will no doubt have to deal with when living here?"

Callie looked up, giving Thundercracker a very flat look, "Do I really need to think of everything?"

A grin cracked through her false annoyance, "I'm not saying it's going to be easy, 'cause honestly it's not going to be. Yes there will be a ton of distrust and even hatred that will need to be worked through. Honestly though," Thundercracker tipped his head, focusing a little more on the human and he vaguely wondered when her opinion began to matter, "Optimus isn't that bad. He wants your war over with and I think he will be willing to listen."

Callie shrugged, snuggling into blue armour, "As for what you do here, it's simple, help the Autobots stop Megatron. Starscream will be all over that." She paused to glance up at the seeker, "And tell Optimus that any Decepticon that follows you will have to defer to Starscream as their Decepticon leader."

A slow smile spread over the blue seekers face. "Starscream would love that." He said slowly, "And then what? Starscream would defer to Prime?"

Callie's lopsided grin matched Thundercracker's. "Exactly. It'd be like the Decepticons…" She paused before emphasising, " _Prime's_ Decepticons would be like their own branch of the Autobot army."

Thundercracker tried to picture it, tried to see Starscream having a calm discussion with Optimus over tactics and energon levels. He could very nearly see the Prime venting for patience while trying to deal with the slightly crazed air commander, _who would be smirking like a fool_ , and actually succeeding in calming the other seeker.

Prime's Autobots had almost always treated their prisoners well when captured, even high ranking officers like Starscream and Thundercracker. As much as the trapped seeker was loathed to admit it, the new Prime was different from the old council, by far better than his long dead predecessor.

Thundercracker could almost see, like feeling the first rays of sunlight warming his cold, space bound armour, that peace could be achieved. Could practically taste it; but so much would have to work out just right. So much would have to fall into place just so.

The seeker was startled at that thought; how much in the last few days had come together just far too perfectly? Pit, he wouldn't even be in the Autobot's presence if not for the small human beside him. The same human who had safe guarded his life and wellbeing for the past week and had done a better job of it than his own leader had.

An annoyed chirr left the Cybertronion as he sent Callie an equally annoyed glower. The blonde merely grinned up at her guardian, "What?"

The seeker huffed, "If, and I do mean _if_ , I managed to get my trine mates here and convince them to stay, you really think Prime will listen to what we have to say?"

Callie blinked slowly up at the seeker, choosing her words carefully. "Optimus listened to what I had to say, why wouldn't he listen to you?"

The seeker gave a noncommittal hum before he continued, "And what about you Callie? What will happen to you?"

"Oh." Callie glanced up, meeting his slanted look. "Well we're stuck here for now. After we know we're safe, I don't know. Guess it will be something else to figure out and we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

Thundercracker snarled softly at that. He would not stay safe behind the Prime and send his human out on her own, he would ensure her safety and he regarded it as high a priority as Starscream's and Skywarp's.

Another vented sigh left the seeker, "Alright." He said and tried to ignore the warmth that spread from his spark at Callie's beaming grin, "I shall speak to the Prime and see if an agreement can be found. If, and only if I can ensure my trine's safety as well as your own, will attempt to bring the other two here."

Callie beamed up at him, "All I can ask is that you try." She then settled down against blue armor, her eyes sliding closed as she began to sleep.

Thundercracker shook his helm in exasperation; Callie was as exhausting as Skywarp at times. However, the blue seeker couldn't stop the warmth that spread from his center and a flicker of hope rose shakily throughout him.

He had a plan now. He had a potential way to protect his humans and save his trine. Blunt, gentle fingers carefully ran down the human's back, "You know," she said, "If you keep that up, I'll start to feel like a pet."

Without breaking character, Thundercracker snorted, "You really are one step away from being one."

Callie gave a sharp noise of indignity as she slapped her hand against his thigh, "Don't be a jerk now. We just had a moment there and you totally ruined it."

Thundercracker chuckled as the human pouted up at him, "Seriously man, not funny." Her head shook back and forth, "What a jerk."

The fall back into their easy banter was comforting to the seeker. There was no malice to their words, merely a gentle bickering of friends. The easy back and forth of playful insults and witty comments with no real barbs hidden beneath; it was what he missed the most about Starscream before Megatron twisted him so badly.

Vaguely the blue seeker wondered, never breaking from his conversation with Callie, if Starscream could be convinced to join the Prime's ranks, would he calm a little, revert back to his old self, even just a little, and engage in silly little arguments like this?

Thundercracker truly hoped so with his entire spark.

Callie's mouth was open, a smart reply on her tongue when the medbay doors opened and Danny walked in.

Now that he was no longer on the verge of offlining, Thundercracker finally got a good look at his charge's cousin. Despite Danny being taller, more muscular and having different skin tone and hair color, there were still so many similarities between the cousins. They had the same shape eyes, although different colors. The same facial structure, similar noses; they both looked like their deceased fathers. They had to in order to look so alike, yet so different. Their fathers had been brothers, it was the only explanation.

While Thundercracker looked Danny up and down, the small human did the same to him. Her brown eyes swiftly moving up his frame, pausing only a moment on where damage once was before moving on. When her dark eyes came to his face she grinned at him with a smirk so unlike Callie's one would think they _weren't_ related.

"Well," Danny said after a moment, her eyes flicking to Callie before going back to the seeker, "now that you're not bleeding out on my garage floor, you're kind of pretty."

Smooth spans of blue wings snapped back up and Callie sighed as she narrowed her eyes on her cousin. "I was not bleeding out." Came the seekers calm response.

Danny's grin got just a little bit bigger, "I dunno, you looked like you were bleeding out _and_ I'm pretty sure that Sideswipe saved your ass out there too."

Thundercracker gave the small femme a flat look, his mouth pressing into a firm line and remembering why he didn't like most humans.

From beside him, Callie sighed with annoyance. "Is there a point to you being here Danny, or are you just here to be irritating for the sake of being irritating?"

Danny's smirk moved from the proud seeker to the annoyed face of her cousin. Callie had been enjoying her one on one time with her guard.

"Well, as much fun as it is to bug you, there is a point to my visit." Danny shrugged, waiting for her cousin's response. When all Callie did was glower at her cousin as she pressed further into blue armor, Danny went on, "Optimus and Lennox want to speak with us. There's some talk about escorting us back to the garage to get the rest of our things and I want to get the Shelby."

Callie's face softened and she glanced quickly up at the seeker; Danny went on with a sly grin. "Ratchet tried to get the others to stop fighting but failed miserably. Jazz is ticked at Red Alert 'cause he didn't figure out that Liz is a hacker and Red Alert is ticked at Liz, who started to cry because he kept yelling at her. Optimus had to break everything up, so we also need to have a talk with Optimus and Lennox about certain aspects of our past."

The car thief then laughed a little as she leaned against the wall, unconcerned at what had occurred in Callie's absence, "We also have to go have a talk about being nice to each other," Danny's eyes rolled with a sigh.

Callie sighed. "But I'm sure you were completely innocent in the whole exchange?"

Thundercracker chuckled softly at the blonde's distained filled words, glad it was Danny who was the target of his charge's displeasure. The car thief shrugged with a smirk, "Well, I may have thrown my own verbal barb in there once or twice." She paused before adding "Besides, Sides is really fun to gang up with on Red Alert. He kept shooting electricity from his little horns."

Callie rolled her eyes, "I can't leave you alone, ever." Dark blue eyes left her cousin and looked up at Thundercracker with worry and the Decepticon didn't need to be a telepath to know she was concerned about the Prime keeping his word.

Holding out his hand to Callie, Thundercracker gently said, "Go speak with Prime and his human allies, get everything settled. I will be fine in your absence and I don't think Prime will go back on his word."

The blonde's brow furrowed and her mouth opened to argue but Thundercracker cut her off, "I'll be fine Callie. When Prime is done with your little…" he paused looking for the correct word and with a smirk continued, "friendship meeting, I will request an audience and work out what needs to be done."

The human's frown deepened but with a sigh Callie stood and carefully moved to his waiting hand. "Fine!" Callie snapped suddenly as Thundercracker carefully lowered her to the ground. "But I don't like it."

"You don't have to." Came Thundercracker's calm response, "Now get going."

Callie gave him a sour look before her grin returned, "All right, I'll see you when it's over. Come on Danny lets go."

The seeker moved his gaze from his charge to her cousin. Danny was looking up at Thundercracker with a small frown and her brow furrowed as she studied him. The seeker sat up straight and the feeling of being judged filled the Decepticon. Crimson optics narrowed on the car thief as she studied him. After a moment, Danny's face softened as a small smile graced her lips and she nodded in acceptance. Although the Decepticon couldn't explain why, the feelings of gratitude filled the seeker; it would make his transition among the Autobots easier if Callie and her family were on board.

The seeker nodded back and Danny's face broke into a grin. She threw an arm around Callie with a laugh, all the tension gone from her muscular frame, "Come on Cal, let's go see if we can cause some more trouble at his little friendship meeting."

Callie sighed as she allowed Danny to take her from the room, "Can we not make it a single week without causing trouble?"

Danny laughed and paused by the medbay door. Turning to look at Thundercracker, who found himself grinning right along with Danny and Callie, the car thief said, "Lucy has just gone to the bathroom. She said she wanted to see you when she gets back. That okay?"

A real smile spread over Thundercracker's face at the chance to see his littlest again, "Send her in when she gets back."

"Good, Grimlock was escorting her. They should be back in a few minutes." Danny said as both she and Callie waved good bye to the seeker.

Thundercracker felt his smile slip from his face plates at Danny's words and all the good feeling replaced with something accustomed to dread filled him. "What! Grimlock! You let Grimlock near Lucy, what is wrong with you two!?"

Callie waved over her shoulder, unconcerned for her little sister. She herself had seen the way that the massive so called monster turned into a puppy dog when her baby sister gave _scritches_ to the metallic reptile. "Stop worrying TC, Lucy's fine. Grimlock won't hurt her."

With a final grin and a wave the cousins left the medbay, leaving a stunned seeker in their wake. Growling with aggravation, Thundercracker scrubbed at his faceplates with both of his repaired servos and sighed in exhaustion.

"Crazy. They're slagging crazy. The pair of them are out of their processors!" He paused to look up at the medbay lights, praying for patience, "Slagging Grimlock. Primus Callie, what are you thinking?"

The seeker sighed again as he leaned back, setting his hands behind him to take his weight. Another sigh left the Decepticon as he tilted his dark helm towards the Autobot SIC. "You can stop pretending now. I know you're awake."

Icy cold blue optics blinked on and Prowl slowly sat up. The tactician stretched his cramped wings as he tossed his long, limber legs over the side of the berth. Leveling a flat look at the seeker, Prowl's cool, even tone snapped out. "You saw the twitch."

It was more of a demand rather than a question and the seeker found himself nodding to the Autobot. "It was when we spoke of Praxus."

Thundercracker dropped his gaze to his knees, refusing to meet Prowl's gaze, not quite ready to face the Praxians anger.

There was a beat of silence before Prowl asked, "Were you telling the truth to the girl or simply lying to escape."

Even in Prowl's ever flat tone, there was a hint of accusation beneath the surface and it caused the seeker's dark helm to snap up to meet the tactician's. He refused to be cowed; he didn't survive the Decepticon army just to be pushed around now.

"I told her the truth." He ground out, red optics narrowed as he met the Autobot's blank look.

Prowl never broke his gaze with the Decepticon; solid blue optics boring into the red ones that met them, searching for any lies. Any hint that Thundercracker spoke anything but the truth. Stubbornly, the dark blue seeker lifted his chin, daring the Autobot to call him a liar. Thundercracker refused to be bullied by anyone, especially some puny Autobot.

After what felt like an eternity, Prowl seemed satisfied with what he saw and with a nod, he turned his attention to the energon line in his arm. Carefully removing said line, Prowl's even tone droned out, "I will accompany the human's to their meeting with the Prime. Once they have been settled, I will set up a meeting with the Prime to discuss contact with your trine." The Autobot paused and added, "And bond mate."

Panic fluttered through the seeker and it showed on his face as his frame went ram rod stiff. For so long he and Skywarp had hidden their relationship only to be discovered by the Autobot's second in command. Swallowing hard, Thundercracker tried to unfreeze his throat to throw out the first excuse he could think of to protect his little, purple mate. Prowl, however, beat him to the punch.

"I am not surprised." Prowl said calmly, not bothering to look up from his arm, "We have been at war for a very long time, life does go on. We need something other than constant battle if we hope to survive and have a life when the war ends. I will, however, inform the Prime of your connection to Skywarp."

Thundercracker managed to clear his throat and croak out, "How do you know it's Skywarp?"

Prowl glanced up, giving Thundercracker a look that screamed 'are you kidding?' before looking back down. The blue seeker sighed; it was after all Prowl, problem solving was sort of his thing.

"The command staff will be notified of the situation but unless you choose to inform others of your bonding, it will be kept a secret. There is no need for the crew to know."

Surprise fluttered through the seeker but he refused to allow it to be seen on his face. Instead he nodded his thanks and silently watched as Prowl slid from the berth. The Praxian nodded again and turned his back to the seeker, done with the conversation, not wanting to be near a Decepticon that had helped destroy his home city any longer than he needed.

Guilt returned to the seeker, causing Thundercracker to sigh and look away. Setting his jaw, he thought about what he should do; he knew that Callie would want him to reach out the Autobot, to start building the bridges that he had destroyed so long ago. He would have to, if he wanted to bring his trine here but words always seemed to weak and pathetic. How could words undo all he had done? How could they make up for all the hurt and destruction he caused?

Taking another deep intake of air, Thundercracker went for it, "Prowl," the tactician paused midway to the doors. He didn't bother to even turn to give the seeker his full attention, instead he looked over his shoulder, cold blue optics piercing over his shoulder and door wing, "For what it's worth, and I'm sure it's worth nothing, I am sorry for Praxus."

Optics never left the Decepticon's face, cold as ever, but the Autobot's wings fluttered in what Thundercracker guessed was surprise, "I…I know words won't make up for what happened and I don't expect you to ever forgive me, but know I am sorry for what occurred."

Black and white door wings stilled, going almost ram rod stiff as Prowl's optics bore into the Decepticon. Again, searching for any dishonesty, any hint of a lie; no doubt if he had been, Prowl would have ended him then and there.

After a breem Prowl nodded and turned to leave the medbay. Instead of being relieved, Thundercracker just felt sick. So much hurt and agony had been done to both factions over the years and it would not be fixed over night. It would take eons to rebuild trust, but it would only happen if both sides were willing.

Well, someone had to take that first step and the Autobots had no reason to trust. Yet it still took a lot for the Decepticon to admit he was sorry for his actions, that he regretted the fall of Praxus; after all he was no better than the past Autobot council. He did to Prowl, what they did to him.

It hurt that his words were cast aside so easily, that they meant nothing and Thundercracker knew Callie was right; it was going to take a lot of work to live here.

Wings drooping and face scowling at the ground, Thundercracker tried to think of other ways to bridge the gap between himself and the Autobot. He was determined to make this plan work and he would be damned if he were to fail simply because he didn't try hard enough, then Prowl surprised him.

Being bonded to Skywarp, very little surprised the blue seeker anymore and since meeting Callie even less did. Yet, Prowl still managed to surprise Thundercracker.

The door winger paused just outside the medbay doors, his frame stiff as he half turned to look at the seeker. Calculating blue optics softened as Prowl studied Thundercracker; the same calculating look was there but gone was the malice that lay beneath.

"For what it's worth," Prowl's carefully thought out words came, "I am truly sorry for what happened to Vos."

Surprised, Thundercracker's helm snapped up to meet the Autobot's gaze, his wings rising with hope, "You are correct in that words will not undo all that was done but it is a start." Again, Prowl paused to think out his next words, "If we ever hope to achieve peace, some hurts and acts will need to be forgiven, on both sides."

Swallowing hard, not quite believing that he was actually having this conversation, Thundercracker stated "War, bad things happen."

Prowl nodded in agreement, "They do. So long as you are not lying, and there is a ten percent chance that you are, we actually have a real chance here."

A crocked grin flittered across the seeker's face, "So don't screw it up?"

Prowl's ever blank face turned to face Thundercracker fully. "Precisely!" Another pause had the seeker tensing, "I do, however, believe that you speak the truth Thundercracker. One does not fight that hard to protect someone like those humans and walk away at the end."

Without another word, Prowl turned to leave the medbay, leaving Thundercracker slack jawed and stunned. He couldn't wait for the moment when he started feeling like himself again; he was a warrior and he wanted to be one again.

Being a hero along with that? That'd be pretty good to.

As the black and white mech left, Lucy came in; Thundercracker sighed with relief when he saw that Grimlock remained outside the medbay doors, looking sad that his new friend had left him.

The small blonde grinned up at the Autobot, "Hi Prowl. You look better!" the little girl chirped.

Prowl nodded in greeting, "Hello Lucy and thank you."

Lucy turned her beaming smile from the retreating tactician to her guard and as Prowl slipped from the medbay, the small blonde bolted for the seeker, happy words pouring from her. "Thundercracker! I'm so happy! You look so much better now, you're all shiny and your armour is all back together. You have two wings!"

Delight danced in the girls blue eyes as the seeker chucked and lowered a hand for her to climb on. Instead of stepping on calmly like her older sister, Lucy dove onto the warm metal giggling like the child she was. As he set her on his knee, the girl giggled again, "I'm so happy you're awake! I waited for you to wake up but you didn't for a very long time!"

Calmly, Thundercracker smirked down at Lucy, leaning back on his hands once again, "So I gathered." Amusement easily heard in the seeker's tone.

The beaming smile never left Lucy's face, "I'm so glad your okay! Can we play games while Callie and Danny are in that meeting? I brought my cards."

Sighing, remember just how exhausting someone as small as Lucy could be and how Skywarp would love her once he got here, Thundercracker couldn't help but grin, "Alright, we'll play your card game."

As Lucy opened her mouth, to say only Primus knew what and only Blurr could keep up with, the medbay door swung open.

The blonde's blue eyes widened and Thundercracker felt his jaw drop in shock as Ratchet came storming back into the Autobots medbay, dragging Prowl by the door wing and the medic was in a full out rant.

"…already have to deal with your slagging bond mate and those pit spawned twins and those foolish little humans, I do not need to be dealing with you too Prowl! You should know better than to leave my medbay without my okay!"

Thundercracker had to admit that Prowl was putting up a fairly good fight against the CMO but as it was, not even the SIC could stop the Hatchet when he was enraged. The black and white mech was forced to walk cockeyed and hunched over as the medic refused to relinquish his hold on the door wing.

Ratchet marched Prowl right back to the berth he had only just previously escaped and forced the Autobot SIC to sit back down. Muttering angrily and engine rumbling in displeasure, Ratchet turned to gather a scanner to properly check Prowl over.

Even Prowl looked rather ruffled from the medics harsh treatment, "Ratchet I assure you I am fine, I…"

Whatever else Prowl was going to say was cut short with a resounding clang and the tacticians chin hitting his chest. Black servos came up to clutch at the new dent in his helm as Ratchet hissed at him. "You will not dictate to _me_ Prowl while in my medbay."

Stuck between being dumbfounded and glad that Ratchet's harsh treatment extended to the Autobots, Thundercracker could do nothing more than chuckle openly at the Autobots. Lucy, sensing her guard's amusement, managed to cover her laughter behind her small hands, Thundercracker was not so skilled.

Hearing the seeker's near laughter, Prowl's blue optics bore into the Decepticon, darkening with his annoyance. "Not a word from you." Came the cold reply.

From behind Prowl, Ratchet snickered. Not wanting to lose what could very well be his first ally amongst the Autobots, Thundercracker held up his hands in mock surrender, "Not a word." The seeker promised.

Lucy finally broke down and burst into a fit of giggles as Prowl continued to glare at the seeker. From behind the black and white, Thundercracker was sure that Ratchet muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'suck up' before going back to checking the Praxian over.

Thundercracker managed to bite back his snicker as Prowl continued to glare and the seeker couldn't help but think that maybe, just this once, things would work out for them.

Just maybe.

()()()

**TBC...**


	14. Reunite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Important Information
> 
> "Blah" Speaking
> 
> :Blah: comm. link
> 
> 'Blah'bonded speech
> 
> 'Blah' thinking
> 
> Astrosecond- 2.5 earth Seconds
> 
> Klik- 150 earth seconds/ 2.5 earth Minutes
> 
> Orn- 150 earth minutes/ 2.5 earth Hours
> 
> Joor- 60 earth hours/2.5 earth Days
> 
> Metacycle- 17.5 earth days/2.5 earth Weeks
> 
> Vorn- 10 earth weeks/2.5 earth months
> 
> Stellercycle-30 earth months/2.5 years
> 
> Breem-slang for a moment/minute.
> 
> Night Cycle: star down to star up
> 
> Day Cycle: Star up to star down
> 
> Authors Note: First and foremost I want to thank every single person who reviewed with your kind words from the last chapter. I can't believe how much love my last chapter received. Thank you all so much, you all have no idea how much your kind words uplifted my spirits and faith back into this story. So thank you, thank you all so much for every review you guys gave. Without you guys, I would get so down on this story. So thank you all so much :D
> 
> Also, thank you to DarknessRising10 who not only did the beta work for this chapter, but also kept my confidence up with not just this chapter but the last as well. Without your help, I would have scrapped the last chapter and lost love in this story. So a huge thank you to you to :D
> 
> Of course thank you to the reviewers of the last chapter, Wanderling, ReveilleWolfie, SunnySidefBlue, ImmaEnforcer, Kathy3meme, Iwanita, Starcree138, AH36 and O. verP .owered. You guys honestly made my weekend with your reviews. Thank you so much and I hope you enjoy this chapter as much. :D
> 
> Warnings: If you are uncomfortable with interfacing or such adult themes, skip the four page break.
> 
> Disclaimer: I own only my OC's, nothing else.

Soft purple light and a popping noise was all the warning the desert sands got before two black pedes slammed into the ground, crushing bright green cacti into mush.

Skywarp grimaced as he glared down at the now green sludge that was smeared on his pede, "Ewww" he grumbled as he lifted the appendage to inspect it. Continuing to grumble, the mostly purple seeker tried to scrub the organic mess from the limb by scraping it along the hot sand of the Nevada desert. Instead of removing the green sludge from the warm metal of his pede, soft brown sand also stuck to his armor.

Shoulders drooping with his wings, Skywarp glared at the offending limb, pondering if actually melting it off would be a viable option at the moment. An annoyed chirr left the teleporter and with a huff, Skywarp turned his attention back to the mission at hand.

Before him lay the Autobots base, sprawling across the Nevada sand; the bright orange ship half buried into a mountain with the humans squat grey hangers and barracks dotted around the _Ark_. The Decepticon snorted to himself, allowing humans into a ship never mind living around it, stupid Autobots.

In two quick strides Skywarp brought himself to stand before the electrical fence that separated the public from the base. The Decepticon smirked to himself, despite where he was, knowing that Spaz Alert no doubt had already sensed his presence before their base. Any moment now the Auto-clods would come storming from their base, their little human pets following along to investigate. They would find him; he'd play the starving Decepticon and allow them to take him 'prisoner'.

A half crazed giggle left the seeker at that thought. He knew he'd never make it into the base otherwise to find Thundercracker. Teleporting into a building was never an easy task and if Skywarp miscalculated, he'd end up in the wrong place, like Prime's quarters and not Ratchet's medbay.

Ratchet's medbay. Skywarp frowned a little at the thought. He really didn't want to deal with the nasty medic but he knew, _knew_ , that's where Thundercracker was.

The teleporter had been carefully monitoring the bond, waiting for the moment his Sweet Wings would wake up. For three days Skywarp had watched the bond, knowing his beloved mate floated in a painless state of unconsciousness while his systems were repaired. It was during monitor duty, once again, when Skywarp had felt his mate come back on line; Soundwave had barley glanced up at the seeker's sudden happy laugh when he had felt Thundercracker's confusion and feelings of completeness.

Skywarp's feelings of jubilance had melted away at the realisation that Thundercracker was now awake, trapped and alone in an Autobot base with no one to come for him. There was no way that Soundwave would have allowed the seeker to leave and Starscream had slipped into such a black rage at Megatron that he would be completely useless on the battle field until he calmed.

The teleporter had waited with fear eating away at his spark for the pain to come. Thundercracker had suffered at the servos of Autobots before, those still loyal to Sentinel Prime granted, but Autobots none the less.

The pain and fear however, never came, just feelings of relief, annoyance and hope.

Skywarp was confused. He wished desperately that Thundercracker would stop blocking his mind and open the bond fully. The teleporter had tried, with everything he had to push past Thundercracker's walls, to reach his mate. Nothing had worked or gotten through.

Huffing, Skywarp curled his dark fingers into the wire of the fence, the electricity pulsing through his frame in tingling bursts and he tore the fence from the ground. That should get them moving a little faster.

Grinning to himself, Skywarp stepped into the Autobot thresh hold. He was going to get his mate back. He was going to bring him home and he would fix Starscream's shattered mind. Everything would go back to normal, for at least a little while. All he needed was his mate back, his rock, his love.

With secret amusement, Skywarp eased his hands into surrender. He was going to sneak Thundercracker out of the Autobot base, right from under their ugly noses.

()()()

Thundercracker fought the urge to fidget through force of will alone; he had his hands clamped together in his lap and his helm up. He refused to take his ruby optics from the bright blue optics of Optimus Prime.

Back straight and his wings high, the dark blue seeker refused to be pushed by the Prime. He may be about to plead for the safety of his trine and his humans, but he was a proud seeker. He would not be brought so low as to beg and he would remind the Prime that he was still a dangerous warrior if the need arose.

However, Prime's frame was relaxed as he sat on a berth across from Thundercracker and the seeker couldn't help but compare the massive red and blue mech to Megatron. His own psychotic leader would never have sat with any of his men in such a lax way, as though they were about to have a conversation about the weather.

Lucy hummed as she shuffled her cards from where she sat at Thundercracker's hip, completely ignoring the tense situation that was about to happen and refusing to leave her guards side. She had nearly shouted out that she just got to see TC and she was not going to leave yet.

Thundercracker had tensed, half expecting the bigger leader to attack in some fashion as Megatron would have at the girls tone. Instead the Prime had chucked and gently said that Lucy could stay with Thundercracker, so long as she was quite.

The nine year old had quieted down almost immediately and settled against the seeker's hip armour. Red optics flicked to the little girl to ensure she was still playing with her cards before darting back up to Prime's.

Although he could never prove it, Thundercracker was sure that the Prime was grinning behind that blasted mask of his.

"I thought you were in a meeting with your little humans?" the seeker ground out, trying to keep the fear from his voice, masking it with supposed anger.

"I am." Optimus calmly intoned. "However Prowl had explained that you had wanted to speak with me in regards to aiding us against Megatron."

A smirk flickered over the seekers light face plates before disappearing away to a serious expression. Clever Prime, he didn't use the word 'defect' or 'Autobot'. Clearly Prowl had explained very carefully what had happened between them. "And what exactly did Prowl explain to you?"

Prime leaned forward, his intense gaze on Thundercracker. The seeker was sure that if he could see the Prime's face, the grin would have disappeared and a serious look would have taken over. "I know that you are bonded to Skywarp and that you worry about both him and Starscream. You want to see them both safe. You also want to see Megatron stopped but refuse to wear the Autobot insignia to do it." The Prime paused before adding, "I know that you are attached to the two humans that brought you to Los Angeles."

Thundercracker refused to drop his gaze but he did swallow hard at such a basic truth.

"What I am confused about, is why now?" Optimus continued. "You could have left the Decepticons long before now. You could have convinced your trine mate and your bonded to leave a very long time ago with you. Why now Thundercracker?"

Ruby optics flicked down to the small blonde head that leant against his black plated hip before shooting back to meet the Primes. "I've never really had a reason to want to stop Megatron before."

The Prime quirked a metal brow, "The safety of your trine wasn't enough?"

A snarl from the seeker had Lucy's worried face looking up, "Don't pretend that you know what it was like Prime. You were on the other side of the fence and we had no other choice at the time. It was safer to keep my trine with the Decepticons."

"And now?" Optimus asked softly, almost like he actually cared about what Thundercracker was about to say.

Venting softly, Thundercracker forced himself to calm. He was not highly strung like Starscream was, he could calm himself when needs be, "Things have changed now. It's not just the humans, its Megatron. He's…" The blue seeker flailed for a word to describe what Megatron had become, finding only something that Callie would say, "Bat shit crazy."

Amusement and surprise flickered across the Prime's optics but Thundercracker was uninterrupted. The seeker took it as a good sign and continued. If anyone could help him, really help him, it would be Prime. "Since before Earth Megatron has been losing it and he's dragging us all down." The dark blue seeker paused, almost unsure if he should speak the next words. "He's destroying Starscream. Bit by bit. He's got all of us believing that we have no way out and that only he will accept us."

Thundercracker snorted before adding, "His favorite motto is currently 'Freedom is the right of all sentient beings, unless you're a Decepticon.' He's got all of us believing that if we lose this war, we'll be enslaved. Most are afraid to lose or defect because they believe that you will never accept us."

The amusement melted away to shock, even offence and the Prime tried to defend himself, "Thundercracker, I would never allow…"

The seeker waved the Prime off as he continued. "You and I both know that you're too soft sparked to do that or turn away any one in trouble. It's a smear campaign that has been hammered into us for a very long time. When all you hear is how bad _you_ are, it makes it very hard to believe otherwise. Especially when we see you throw down with Megatron."

The Prime relaxed a little. "Throw down?"

Thundercracker sighed at the amusement that has crept back into the Prime's voice. He needed to stop picking up on Callie's words.

Blue optics flicked to Lucy before going back to capture ruby ones. "I take it the humans were the last stone to push you to change?"

The seeker nodded, feeling his tightly wound frame relax, "I'm sick of seeing my trine hurt. I'm sick of being worried that I will have to one day kill my bond mate to protect him." The proverbial damn had broken in Thundercracker and although his tone was calm, he kept going, "I'm sick of seeing Starscream's mind in tatters. I'm sick of being the bad guy all the damn time."

He sighed again, "I'm sick of hearing about all the bad things that happened to Callie and knowing that if I go back, I can't protect her. And...I don't know where else to go."

Optimus sighed and his spark softened towards the seeker at his softly spoken words. It could still be a trap, a cleverly laid out plot to infiltrate the Autobot base and kill them all. Yet Optimus couldn't bring himself to believe it. It had nothing to do with his own kindness, Optimus wasn't as naive as the Decepticons liked to believe, but everything to do with Thundercracker's body language.

Seekers naturally were graceful creatures. Fast and agile, true masters of the sky. Thundercracker looked as though he wanted to purge his tanks; he held his frame far too tightly, almost as though he waited for an attack. His wings were swept back and pushed high, much like Prowl, it was a subconscious attempt to make himself look bigger.

Optimus wanted to comfort the seeker, let him know that it would be alright and they would find his trine. Yet the Prime kept his servos firmly in his lap as he held Thundercracker's gaze, knowing that any attempt at comfort would be seen as weakness.

That perceived weakness would lose Optimus the thin line of trust and respect that was slowly forming, "Do you have a plan to find them? I doubt seeing you on a battle field would go over well with either of them."

Dark blue wings twitched and lowered ever so slightly as Thundercracker relaxed, "I do. Once your medic has cleared me from medbay I will return to _Nemesis_." Optimus frowned at that statement but allowed Thundercracker to continue, "I will have to wait a few days once things calm down. I have no doubt that Skywarp will be all over me and Starscream has been damaged in some way. I will have to see to them before I convince them to leave."

"How do you know that Starscream has been hurt?"

Thundercracker gently shrugged, "I can only assume it is him that has been damaged. Instinct tells me that something has happened and it usually is Starscream that upsets Megatron."

Optimus nodded, "How long will you need?"

The Prime's tanks churned. So much was riding on something as fragile as trust in Thundercracker and Optimus didn't want to send the seeker into a worse situation.

Ruby optics floated up in thought, "A week tops. That will allow me to calm Megatron and come up with a cover story of how I escaped. As well as convince Starscream and Skywarp to leave."

Leveling his gaze at the seeker, the big red and blue mech asked, "And if you are not back by a week?"

Thundercracker sighed, "Then it went poorly and I am either in the brig or deactivated. Either way, I leave Callie and Lucy's care to you if that is the case."

"Thundercracker, I…"

Whatever the Prime was going to say, was quickly cut off, "I leave them in your care Prime. No one else will care enough about them to protect them, but you will."

The seeker's words were spoken with such ferocity that Optimus was taken aback for a moment, "Alright Thundercracker. I will guard them until you return."

A smirk fluttered across the blue seekers face, "Assuming I make it back at all."

It was a grim joke, one that Optimus didn't want to consider, "You're strong Thundercracker. You've survived this long in the worst war our species has ever seen. If anyone could pull this off, it would be you."

Surprise and shock fluttered across the blue seeker's face but he quickly shook it off, leaving confusion in its wake.

Guilt then twisted the Prime's tanks. Autobots and Decepticons were so, so different and perhaps his attempt to compliment had actually insulted the seeker, "Thundercracker are you alright?"

The seeker waved away the Prime's words, "It's fine Prime. I've just never been complimented by a leader before. It's different."

The words were still confused, but softening as acceptance settled and it twisted something within Optimus to think that those clumsy words were the first compliment the seeker had ever gotten from a leader.

Optimus didn't lie; Thundercracker truly was a force to be reckoned with. He had killed more of Optimus's Autobots than he was willing to admit. He was a skilled and noble fighter and Megatron should have recognised that long ago.

' _Oh Megatron, what have you become?'_

Optimus ruthlessly shoved those thoughts away. He could no longer help Megatron, but the seekers, the seekers he could help along with any Decepticon looking for a way out, "We have much to learn from each other Thundercracker." The seeker nodded at the Prime's softly spoken words as a small grin spread across his face. It just killed Optimus all the more that such simple words have never been uttered to the seeker, "We will aid you in any way we can Thundercracker. I will have Ratchet prepare the medbay for multiple mechs and I'm sure we can give you a private communicator of some sort if you are in need of assistance."

Another nod, "Thank you Prime."

"But Thundercracker, are you prepared for the fall out of this? Are you prepared to deal with Starscream's and Megatron's anger?"

The grin slipped from the seeker's face and grim determination swept in, "I can deal with Starscream and Megatron _will_ kill him eventually. Better to be here and have half a chance."

"And on the battle field?"

A nasty smirk spread across Thundercracker's face. A predatory one that was sharp angles, "I only hope to see the bastards face when he realises we stand with you."

Optimus couldn't help himself, he snorted, "And do you really think you can convince Starscream to leave?"

Callie's words were still fresh in Thundercracker's mind, "I'm going to tell him the only way to stop Megatron and become leader of the Decepticon faction is to join you. That only with your help will we be rid of Megatron for good."

Amusement flooded Optimus and he grinned behind his battle mask, "And you believe that Starscream will agree with that statement?"

Thundercracker smirked back, "If I imply that Megatron is a fool, then, yes."

Optimus felt the tight knot of uncertainty loosen from around his spark. This plan just might work and if Starscream brought more seekers with them, it would give the Autobots a much needed advantage.

Nodding again, Optimus moved to stand; he saw Thundercracker struggling to do the same and the Prime put his servo out to gently touch the seeker's shoulder, "You are still recovering Thundercracker. Ratchet would have both of our helms if he saw you up already."

Again, the same confusion flooded the seekers face but Thundercracker nodded and stayed seated as Optimus stood.

"It is respectful," He said as Optimus stood fully, looking again unsure of himself, "to stand when your leader does."

Optimus nodded in agreement, filing that bit of information away for later dealings with the seeker, "As true as that may be Thundercracker, in Ratchet's medbay, no one breaks his rules. Not even I and he ordered you to stay on your berth."

His brows furrowing in confusion, the Decepticon questioned, "But you're the Prime."

Leaning down to stage whisper, Optimus replied, "In Ratchet's medbay that does not mean a damn thing."

It just confused the seeker all the more. Not even Hook would have spoken back against Megatron but Thundercracker chalked it up to them being Autobots.

The Prime straightened up, more relaxed then he was before, "I need to go and speak with our human allies over the human femmes that accompanied you here. Once Mearing is gone, we will speak of your mission to the _Nemesis_ to find your trine."

Thundercracker nodded, all signs of happiness gone and replaced by a stressful look of determination, "Thank you Prime." He said softly.

The seeker was surprised that he meant it.

Optimus was surprised that he believed it.

With one last nod, Optimus left, leaving Lucy and Thundercracker alone. The moment the medbay doors slid shut, Lucy climbed up on to Thundercracker's knee with a grin, "I like him TC. Can we stay here?"

Thundercracker snorted at the girl's words, not too sure when 'he' and 'she' had become 'we', "I like him too Lucy," he admitted, "and hopefully we can stay here."

The little girl hummed, her blue eyes focusing as she thought, "Can I meet your trine soon too?"

Pain flared in Thundercracker's spark, "I really hope so."

Lucy grinned up at her guard, "Me too TC. Now let's play poker!"

Blinking in surprise, the seeker frowned down at the little girl, "Where did you learn to play poker?"

"I watched Danny. I learned." There was no doubting the pride in the little girls tone and it brought a real smile to the seekers face for the first time in days.

"Lucy, you are going to rule the world one day. Your sister and cousins don't know it yet, but you will."

The little blond grinned up at her massive guard.

()()()

The seeker and the nine year old were through their second hand of poker, which Thundercracker was sure he would win this time, when the medbay doors opened.

The dark blue Decepticon's frame stiffened, nearly curling around the girl to protect her in case of an attack. Although Prime, Ratchet and even Prowl seemed to be on board with getting his trine to the Autobot base, that didn't mean that all Autobots would be okay with it. With not nearly enough time for the meeting to finish, Thundercracker doubted that it was Callie or Ratchet coming back, the seeker could only assume it was an Autobot coming for some pay back.

Gritting his dental plates, Thundercracker nearly snarled when he realised he was completely disarmed. No matter, he didn't need weapons to defend Lucy; he'd kill them with his bare servos if he had to. Prime be damned, they'd work it out afterwards but he was not going to be beaten by some clumsy Autobot on a vendetta.

Lucy gave the seeker a curious look, her small brow furrowing as she looked up at Thundercracker and his sudden stiffening. Her small voice asking, "You okay?" as the seeker scanned the still empty room.

"I heard the door open." Thundercracker muttered as his ruby optics scanned the area, knowing that Mirage had the ability to turn invisible if the time called for it.

A small gasp drew the seeker's gaze downwards and if at all possible, Thundercracker's frame stiffened further. The even smaller blonde that was Annabelle Lennox, Ironhide's Annabelle Lennox, stood before them.

Her big hazel eyes stared up at him in wonder, her mouth hung open slightly as she studied his large, proud wings that spread wide behind him. Likely the girl had never been this close to a seeker like him; the Autobot Arialbots were still so young and small compared to him.

If there was one thing all Decepticon's knew, it was not to go near the Lennox girl. Not if you wanted to end up deactivated and your pieces spread throughout the battle field. _'Well if I wasn't going to die before...'_ Thundercracker thought to himself miserably as he watched the little girl stare up at him.

Lucy scrambled across his dark thigh, coming to perch on her hands and knees on the seeker's knee armor. Looking down at the second girl, Lucy grinned, "Hi Anna!"

The Lennox kid turned her shocked look to Lucy, a smile forming on her face, "Hey Lucy." Her hazel eyes flicking back to the seeker, "Is this...is this Thundercracker?"

She was scared, the seeker realised suddenly, of him. Freshly awakened programming demanded that he do something to make her at ease, seeing as the little Lennox girl was as much a sparkling as Lucy. Before he could stop himself, Thundercracker had his wings pulled in close to his body in an attempt to make him look smaller. Rolling his red optics the seeker sighed and cursed to himself but at least he wasn't purring. That would have been too embarrassing.

The girls didn't seem to notice how the seeker made himself smaller or fidget uncomfortably as they continued their excited chatter.

"It is!" Lucy said happily, "He's all better now!"

The fear began to dissipate from Anna, seeing how her friend interacted so easily with the seeker, "He's so pretty!" Thundercracker frowned a little at that statement; he really didn't see himself as 'pretty' and it sort of bruised his already damaged ego. "Ratchet does such a good job!"

"Yep! And look, his wings are all better and he can fly again!" Came Lucy's excited words as she pointed to the wide blue appendages. His little charge paused to consider before saying "Maybe he will take us for a flight!"

Annabelle's face lit up in delight at the prospect, "Really!"

As foolish as it was, Thundercracker felt his pride pick up a bit at how proud Lucy was of him. Pushing those feelings aside, Thundercracker cleared his throat, drawing the attention of the girls, "Anna, I'm sure someone is looking for you." Firmly ignoring the possibility of taking them for a flight. "You should be off now." He didn't want to get slagged by Ironhide should he discover that he was near his little human.

He understood the whole protective thing now.

Lucy and Anna mirrored sad looks up at him; their little lips perked up in a pout as they frowned up at the seeker and Thundercracker had to fight the urge to coo at them.

Instead he kept his face firm and shooed Ironhide's charge away with his servo, "Go on now. Get."

Lucy and Annabelle stared up at the seeker with teary, glassy eyes, "But...but I want to play too." Anna's voice was small as her little lip trembled.

Stealing himself to the girls' tears, Thundercracker schooled his expression to one of annoyance; it always worked for Skywarp, "No Annabelle. You need to go now, before Ironhide realises you're missing. Now, off you go."

The seeker managed to stay strong at Annabelle's sad little face and her trembling lip; but he had no defenses against the single, perfectly round tear that slipped from Lucy's bright blue eyes, "But I want to teach Anna."

Defenses crumbling under his small charges tears, Thundercracker could do nothing but sigh angrily at the girls. Wings drooping low, the Decepticon glowered at Lucy first before turning it to Annabelle, "Ten minutes. Then Annabelle goes."

As though a switch had been flipped, the two blondes grinned up at the seeker, their tears drying up almost instantly and Thundercracker knew he'd been had.

Anna held her small arms up to the Decepticon with a wide grin as though to say 'up please', her hazel eyes sparkling in the bright white light of the medbay. Keeping as much dignity as he could, Thundercracker rolled his ruby optics and leaned down to offer his servo to the other girl.

Surprised that she did not hesitate to climb onto the offered servo, Thundercracker gently eased the girl onto his leg before swinging the long limbs onto the medical berth. Glaring at the two giggling sparklings, the seeker huffed as he leaned back onto this servos, "There. She's up. You've got ten minutes to play, get to it."

Matching, overly pleased grins met Thundercracker's annoyed grimace, "Thank you TC!" Lucy sing-songed and Anna quickly repeated her friend's happy words.

Huffing, Thundercracker looked away with a firm, "Your welcome." As he set his chronometer to begin counting down the girl's ten minutes. He just really hoped that whoever was supposed to be watching little Annabelle didn't realise she was missing. Only half listening to the little girl's conversation as Lucy began teaching Anna how to play poker, Thundercracker let his mind wander. He hoped that Ratchet would deem him healthy enough for flight soon.

In part he wanted to take to the skies and feel the wind beneath his wings but mostly, Thundercracker just wanted to see his mate and trine leader again. He wanted to get them away from Megatron and the sooner the better. All he had to do was convince Starscream to leave, and with Callie's argument in mind, he was sure he could do it. Skywarp would see his memories and his feelings the first time they spark merged when he got back to the _Nemesis_ and would probably follow him back to the _Ark_ with no questions.

Pit, once Skywarp saw how he felt about Callie and Lucy, the teleporter would probably love them just as much as he did. An amused grin spread across his face as images of Skywarp and Lucy playing together, filled Thundercracker's processor.

It could happen. His hope was achievable now, all he had to do was convince them to join him and leave Megatron.

He could do it. How hard could it…

All thought was cut off by a blaring siren and flashing red lights. Freezing, Thundercracker felt his combat programming snapping on-line and coming to the forefront of his processor.

With a snarl the seeker felt his body loosen, ready for a fight. He felt his turbines power up; in a pinch they could and would be used as weapons.

Unmaker be damned if he allowed these little girls, these little sparklings, be damaged because he was unarmed.

Ruby optics glanced down at the pair who clung to each other; their small hands clamped together while their pale faces tipped towards the blaring red light with wide, frightened eyes. The bright red light flashing off their pale skin, making them appear paler then they should.

" _Attention all Autobots! Intruder on the premises, north fence! Intruder on the premises, north fence!"_ came Red Alert's voice over the _Ark's_ intercom.

The message continued, over and over again as the Autobot's voice edged closer and closer to hysterics. With a frown, Thundercracker wondered who would be stupid enough to break into the Autobot's base and why?

The seeker's musings were interrupted by a small voice asking, "TC, what's going on?"

Dropping his optics down to Lucy and Annabelle's frightened faces. Both girls, even the Autobot's child, were looking to him for protection from whatever threat had been stupid enough to attack.

"It's fine Lucy." The seeker said calmly, despite his want for a weapon, "Nothing is going to happen to you." Pausing, Thundercracker added, "Or you Anna. The Autobots will deal with whoever is foolish enough to attack and the sirens will go off."

The pair of girls nodded as they huddled on his thigh, their small bodies trembling in fear. Even brave little Lucy's blue eyes darted around, expecting something bad to happen at any time.

Glancing around, Thundercracker glanced back down, quietly cooing to the girls as though they were small sparklings in an attempt to comfort. Just as quickly as the siren started, it stopped and Red Alert's voice disappeared from the PA system.

Grinning, the seeker gently poked Lucy in the side in a playful gesture, "See, all done. I told you that the Autobots would…"

The blue seeker froze suddenly, his mouth hanging open in shock as his servo came to rest around the girls in order to protect them. Red optics darted up to the medbay doors as the insistent tugging on his spark got stronger.

' _No.'_ Thundercracker thought to himself, denial was the easiest response when faced with such a situation, ' _He wouldn't be so stupid. Starscream wouldn't allow this.'_

There was, however, something wrong with Starscream. The trine bonds were never wrong and he knew that something was desperately wrong with one of his trine mates, and really, when was it _not_ Starscream.

So if Starscream was unable to stop Skywarp...

' _Pits!'_ Thundercracker sighed as he again felt the insistent pulling on his spark, the demand to be let in growing.

Cracking open his bond with Skywarp just enough to feel emotion, Thundercracker was swamped with feelings of excitement, fear, worry and need. Oh the need that suddenly slammed into the dark blue seeker was enough to cause him to gasp and catch himself with his hands.

Skywarp needed him and needed him now.

Thundercracker's vision blurred as the bond was forced open further and once again, all that was Skywarp ripped through his bond mate's mind like a tornado. The teleporter was too excited, too far gone in need to properly articulate any coherent thought as waves of emotions slammed into Thundercracker.

The blue seeker shuttered and hunched over his small, human charge as he jammed his optics shut as hard as he could. Feelings flew through his processor too fast for Thundercracker to catch onto but he caught wisps of fear and love, nothing else was strong enough for the lieutenant to grasp. Pushing love through the bond was enough to stall Skywarp's wild emotions long enough for Thundercracker to gain control of his mind once more.

Shuttering, the Decepticon onlined his optics with a deep, calming intake of air as he narrowed the bond with Skywarp just enough to control his own mind but left it open enough that the younger seeker could feel him.

Mirth suddenly filled Thundercracker and he just _knew_ that his young mate was about to do something dumb.

"TC, you okay?"

Lucy's small, frightened voice drew the 'Con's attention to her as she and Anna clung to each other, the stench of fear rolling off the pair of sparklings in waves and before he could stop himself, Thundercracker cooed at them.

The soft noise drew a frown from Lucy but Anna giggled up at the large seeker. Clearing this throat, Thundercracker moved his dark servo to the girls, offering a safe haven for what was about to hit; meanwhile Skywarp's amusement and excitement was only growing.

"I'm fine Lucy," the Lieutenant started, "But right now, I need you to get on my servo and be still."

The pair of blondes shared a look before returning confused and frightened looks to Lucy's guard, "Why?"

Ruby optics flicked from one small face to the other, "My mate is here and he is coming for me," there would be no other reason that Skywarp was in Autobot territory, "and in his excitement he may hurt you accidently."

Lucy's little brow furrowed in confusion but Anna just looked downright scared. One seeker that knew her new friend Lucy was fine, but another seeker that no one knew? Ironhide's gruff words to run and hide when facing a seeker suddenly flooded the small girls mind.

A soft whimper escaped Annabelle as she clung to her small red Ironhide doll, drew Thundercracker's gaze. The frown deepened on the seeker's face, "It's alright Annabelle. Skywarp will not hurt you intentionally and I will ensure he will not hurt you accidently."

"You'll protect us?" Came the small response from Ironhide's charge.

Before Thundercracker could answer, Lucy jumped into the conversation, "Of course TC will protect us! He looked after me and Callie all the way here didn't he?"

The warmth returned to Thundercracker's spark as Lucy climbed into the offered servo, stretching out her small hand to her friend in an offering. Lucy's trust meant so much to the lonely seeker and he knew that once Skywarp saw how he felt, he would be in the same opinion.

He just had to be.

"You'll protect me like Ironhide?" Came Anna's quiet question and Thundercracker found himself nearly snarling at the question. He was a seeker, of course he would be a better protector then that ignorant old fool!

Swallowing the acidic retort for the sake of the girl, Thundercracker calmly said, "I can do it better."

That brought a grin to the girl's face and she too climbed onto his servo, joining Lucy in the only safe place in medbay, "I doubt it TC. But I'll let you try."

A smirk flicked across the Decepticon's mouth. So, the Lennox girl had more fire in her then she let on; he could use that to distract her from her fear.

Opening his mouth for a retort, Thundercracker was interrupted once again as Red Alert's stressed out voice blared over the intercom, "THE INTRUDER HAS ESCAPED! CODE RED, I REPEAT CODE RED! ALL AUTOBOTS BE ON THE LOOK OUT FOR THE SEEKER, SKYWARP!"

Thundercracker drowned out the irritating voice as he gently lifted his servo up and away from his frame. He could feel the pair once again cling to each other, there small bodies shaking in fear from the loud noises and bright red flashing lights.

"TC." One of them whined, but the distanced tone was lost in the chaotic noise around them.

"It's alright, be calm. Be still." Came Thundercracker's calm, smooth voice. The pair hunkered down on his servo as they waited.

Any moment now, Skywarp would come bursting into the room. Any moment…

Panic flared across the bond and just as he calmed the girls, Thundercracker pushed waves of calm to his stressed out and panicked bond mate.

Using the bond and feelings being pushed through like a homing beacon, Skywarp suddenly teleported into the medbay, after several failed attempts; his wrists clamped together with stasis cuffs and unarmed, but completely unharmed.

The girls shrieked in surprise as bright purple lit the room, fighting with the blaring red of the alarm system.

Skywarp's bright, worried ruby optics locked in surprise with Thundercracker's harder, darker ones and for a moment nothing else existed. Not the screaming of the siren or the blaring of red lights, not even the shaking bodies of the little girls in Thundercracker's servo. For just a moment, nothing else lived or moved for the two seeker's but their bond mate. Thundercracker was sure Skywarp had never looked so perfect, so beautiful as he did in that moment.

Red light danced off his perfect black and purple armour and Thundercracker watched as Skywarp's soft, grey lip plates formed an 'O' of surprise.

Just as quickly as the moment happened, it ended. Noise and feelings crashed back into Thundercracker; he suddenly felt hyper aware. Could see the flashing of light, could hear the scream of the siren and Red Alert's voice; could feel the shutter of the little girls in his servo.

With a cry of joy, Skywarp closed the distance between himself and his mate, feelings of anticipation and want filled the older Decepticon as he watched his mate rush him.

Bracing his feet to the floor, Thundercracker held the little girls a little further from his frame as Skywarp tried to tackle hug his mate. The girls cried out more in surprise than anything else as Thundercracker's frame rocked back when Skywarp barrelled into him.

The purple seeker let out a distressed chirr as he pressed his face into the crook of Thundercracker's neck; his bound servos clawing desperately at the blue seeker's chest plates as he sobbed in relief.

Incoherent babbling left the mostly purple Decepticon as Thundercracker wrapped one arm around his shaking frame to pull him as close to his own frame as physically possible. Cooing at his distressed mate, Thundercracker tried to reach Skywarp through the bond.

' _ **Sky. Sky can you hear me?'**_ Jumbled emotions met Thundercracker's attempts. _**'Come on Sweet, I know you're in there.'**_

Just as Thundercracker began to rock his distress mate, the sirens ceased their noise and the Decepticon lieutenant knew that Prowl knew where Skywarp was. They didn't have much time left and he needed Skywarp calm enough to surrender.

Feeling his mate's urgency, Skywarp finally reached out, allowing his mind to be wrapped in Thundercracker's reassuring calmness, _**'T-TC!'**_ Even in his mind, Skywarp sounded scared, sad, nearly broken, _**'Thu-Thundercracker! I was so worried! I didn't know where you were and Starscream! Oh Screamer, TC they did such terrible things to him.'**_

Tears flooded the younger seeker's optics as he clung to his blue hued mate.

' _ **I know. I know. I'm sorry I wasn't there.'**_ Guilt filled the seeker as he paused, glancing at the door before burrowing his nose into the side of Skywarp's helm, inhaling his mate's sweet sent, _**'I promise love we will get him back. I just need you to be calm.'**_

Sniffling, Skywarp lifted his helm from his mate's neck to look into his wide, unguarded optics, **'TC, I don't know…'** the purple seeker stopped midsentence as confusion filled the bond and he bleated out loud "TC why are you holding flesh bags?"

Sighing, Thundercracker pushed more calmness and love through to his mate, "I can explain,"

Skywarp's optics shot to his mates, confusion slowly turning into betrayal, "TC?" the soft, unsure whine came.

"I can explain," Thundercracker began, "I promise I will. But right now, I need you to surrender to Prowl."

The tactician, Thundercracker knew, would ensure Skywarp was unharmed. The other seeker's ruby optics widened in shock as his tears dried and feeling of betrayal flooded the bond.

"You betrayed us." Skywarp gasped, trying to break Thundercracker's tight hold.

By 'us' Thundercracker knew Skywarp had meant himself and Starscream.

"Never!" The older Decepticon hissed softly, tightening his grip on his mate, forcing himself not to flinch at Skywarp's turmoil while ensuring the girls safety. "You and Starscream are the most important thing in my world and I have a plan but I have little time to explain."

It was not the firmness that made Skywarp stop his struggles, but the underlining panic. Thundercracker never panicked; he was always the cool, calm, steady one and for once, the blue seeker wished he had his normal cool attitude.

In the calmest voice he could muster knowing he would soon be separated from his mate once again, the seeker continued, "I promise I will show you everything. Please, trust me."

Looking uncertain, Skywarp dropped his optics as he fidgeted in Thundercracker's hold, "But Starscream..."

"Will not be left behind. We will get him back." There was the calm, steady soldier that Thundercracker knew he was, "I will tell you everything once things calm down. Just trust me."

Skywarp whimpered again, fidgeting, _**'I trust you Sweet Wings.'**_ and before Thundercracker could react, Skywarp pressed himself forward, his chest to Thundercracker's chest.

The purple seeker's lips molded perfectly over Thundercracker's and the proud seeker was helpless to his optics blinking offline. Moaning into the kiss, Thundercracker let his frame relax slightly against his mate, drawing the teleporter in even closer.

They kept the kiss chaste, soft and loving as they let soft emotions that would have gotten them killed in the Decepticon army flow back and forth.

"Eww." Came the soft voice that had them crashing back to the reality of things.

Sitting in the center of Thundercracker's dark palm, with the disgusted look that only a child could manage, Lucy grimaced at the kissing seekers, "Kissing is so gross. Callie used to do it with her boyfriend and that's gross too!"

Skywarp felt the rush of fondness that swept through Thundercracker suddenly and found himself first upset at the feeling, then betrayed. How dare this pathetic little creature twist his mate's perspective of life. How dare she! How...

Then, slowly at first, feelings trickled through the bonds, both trine and mate bonds. Skywarp frowned and cocked his helm to the side as his chained servos griped at Thundercracker's armour. Defensive programming that had never had reason to online, shot online.

The purple seeker shuttered, no longer seeing the small creature in Thundercracker's servo as a useless sack of meat, but as a sparkling that needed to be protected.

Fear and confusion once again flooded the bond, "TC?"

"I know." Came the gentle voice of his mate as he felt Skywarp's confusion, "I'll explain. I swear it, I'll explain."

Turning confused optics back to the little girl, Skywarp went limp against his mate, "I don't understand..."

The soft, desolate voice nearly broke Thundercracker there and then but the blue seeker needed to be strong for the sake of his mate. Pressing a kiss to Skywarp's helm, Thundercracker sighed. Things had not gone quite as planned but things were going well...enough.

Crawling ever closer to the heel of Thundercracker's palm, Lucy tried to get a better look at Skywarp, "Is this Skywarp?"

The purple seeker blinked at the little girl that knew his name and could feel Thundercracker's grin against his helm, "This is Skywarp." The Lieutenant confirmed.

Blue eyes shifted from the blue seeker to his frightened, confused mate, "I'm Lucy, Skywarp."

"I…" the younger seeker started, glancing up, unsure, at his mate and felt much better at the gentle nod of assurance, "Hi." He finished lamely.

Lucy grinned at the teleporter with a giggle, "TC why is he so sad looking? Did you do something bad?"

The older seeker sighed as Skywarp snorted, "No Lucy. I didn't do anything wrong. It's complicated is all."

Skywarp, suddenly feeling better at having his mate so close and feeling more like himself, grinned up at the other, "Well this is your fault. Whatever it is that you've done, it's your fault."

Lucy giggled again as Anna crawled to peek at the seeker with her friend; Thundercracker frowned down at his mate, irritation hiding his true amusement, "Stop that."

Drawing random patterns on his mate's chest plates, Skywarp mocked, "Stop what?"

"Getting along." Thundercracker droned out.

Skywarp was surprised to feel that, in fact, Thundercracker really did want him to get along with the little humans. The purple seeker grinned, knowing that his mate knew, he knew.

"Can you be my friend?" Lucy asked as she strained to pull herself closer to watch the seeker without falling. Anna doing the same beside her while Thundercracker tensed, ready to catch them should they slip.

The seekers canted their helms and gave Lucy a confused look. With a huff, the little girl explained, "Callie gets to play with TC, Liz gets to play with Hound and Danny gets to play with Sides. Why can't I play with Skywarp?"

"Yeah, why can't she play with Skywarp!" The purple seeker parroted when he felt his mate's irritation, his own uncertain feelings washing away. Thundercracker was smart, he had to have a plan. He just had to.

"Because she already has Grimlock to play with." The older seeker spat, still disgusted that Callie would allow such a thing.

"But Grimlock can't fly!" Lucy exclaimed, dragging a smirk from the purple seeker.

"Well, you can't argue with that TC."

Sighing, Thundercracker eased his servo closer to Skywarp, prompting the other to hold out his own servo, still bound together with mag cuffs. Grinning, Lucy carefully climbed from Thundercracker's servo to the one Skywarp offered.

Fear spiked through the blue seeker as Skywarp lifted the small blonde closer to his face for inspection; his mouth slightly agape as he studied the little human, "Be careful Sky." The older seeker huffed as he eased Anna onto his shoulder.

Glancing up to his mate, Skywarp studied what his older mate had done and eased Lucy onto his shoulder, moving slowly as to not drop the little girl because of his bound servos.

Flashing a grin at Thundercracker as Lucy snuggled into the side of his neck, Skywarp quietly asked, "So...so you want to stay here. Become Autobots?"

The little girls became quiet as they listened for the answer, "No, not become Autobots but I think we need to help the Autobots."

Skywarp glanced down, chewing on his lower lip, uncertain. He glanced at Lucy, who smiled reassuringly at him, before looking back to Thundercracker, "You're sure?"

"Of course."

"And we'll get Star back?"

"I promise." Even Anna smiled up at Thundercracker's determination, despite not knowing exactly what was going on.

Skywarp's hesitant voice came out a little stronger, "And you'll show me what's going on, what happened?"

As Thundercracker opened his mouth to answer, a voice cut him off, "What Ah want ta know is, what is the teleporter do'en in here, an' why Annabelle's here fer that matter."

The seekers froze at Ironhide's rough, angry voice. Combat programming and newly awakened sparkling programming sprung into action within both seekers and the pair felt themselves barrelling towards the killing threshold. The need to protect both mate and sparklings deeply embedded in both seekers.

With a snarl, Skywarp twisted around to glare at the red Autobot; twisting the shoulder that Lucy perched on closer to Thundercracker and Anna, sandwiching the girls between the large, strong bodies of the seekers.

Ironhide snarled at the movement as his grip on his weapon, trained solely on the seekers, tightening as his blue optics flicked from Skywarp's angry red optics to Thundercracker's cool demeanor despite the boiling rage within. Staying silent the blue seeker tightened his grip around his mate, unconsciously banding his arms around Skywarp's barrelled chest, protecting his spark.

Tension rose within the medbay as the seekers and Ironhide faced off; the red Autobot's need to protect his charge clashing with seeker programming to protect the sparklings from a known enemy.

The medbay was so quiet that running systems sounded like crashing thunder and the soft, annoyed sigh from Anna was so much louder than it really was.

With a huff that only a seven year old girl could manage, the small blonde stood on Thundercracker's shoulder with her tiny fists on her hips.

"I wanted to see Lucy, Ironhide!" her annoyed and oh so insolent little voice rang out.

Blue optics slipped from the angry optics of the seekers to Anna as she strained over Skywarp's shoulder to glare at her guard. Anger flushed through Ironhide, he had watched this little girl grow up, loving her like his own and he had protected her like family, yet she willingly came into the medbay with a pair of dangerous seekers, some of his worst enemies?

Oh, she was so going to be grounded.

Voices, panicked and angry sounded from the hallway, both human and cybertronion alike. Optimus's strong, calm voice yelling over all others as he ordered everyone to fan out.

"Anna, yer were told ta stay outta here! Yer were told ta stay away from them seekers! Now git over here!"

The seven year old sighed in defeat but kept her angry glare pinned on the massive Autobot. Even though angry at her and scared for her well being (no matter what Prime and Prowl said, Ironhide would have to _see_ that the seekers wanted to change before he believed their slag), Ironhide couldn't help but feel the small thread of pride in his little charge. So much fire in such a small frame.

Whatever Annabelle was going to say in retort was lost as Prime marched through the medbay doors, hands ready for a fight but empty of a weapon. Prowl was right behind him, door wings high and also weaponless, Jazz falling in line behind him, his usually joyful face serious.

Cliffjumper, Bluestreak, Perceptor and Hound all filed in behind the weaponless leaders, their own weapons drawn and pointed at the weaponless seekers.

Prowl's door wing flicked as he glanced behind him at the four other Autobots, "Lower your weapons." The order sent relief through Thundercracker, however it was to lower, not holster; not even Prowl was quite ready to trust that much yet.

Slowly weapons came down and the Autobot SIC's blue optics meet Thundercracker's dark red; the black and white mech's helm bobbed in a nod and the seeker felt relief flow through him. Prowl understood the need to protect his mate.

More voices bounced off the medbay walls as the humans also filed in, weapons drawn and aimed at the seekers. Thundercracker internally snorted at the action, like their weapons really could damage him or his mate; but a chill ran through the seeker at the thought that a ricochet could kill Lucy or Anna.

It wasn't until an annoyed Callie and a confused looking Danny came into the medbay following Epps and Lennox, did Thundercracker tense again. He couldn't care less about the other humans in the room; but Callie and by extension, Danny, meant something to the blue seeker.

Lennox's hazel eyes widened when he saw Annabelle sitting on Thundercracker's wide blue shoulder, "Anna, what are you doing up there!"

Shrinking away from her father's angry voice, Anna muttered, "I'm just playing."

"Playing! You were told to stay away from the medbay. Get down! Now!" Lennox's order bred more from fear than anything else.

Anna hunched in further into her small ball, trying to disappear behind Thundercracker's shoulder vent.

While Lennox waited impatiently for his daughter to comply, the car thief's brown eyes widened at the sight of Skywarp, "Whoa. He multiplied."

Dark red optics narrowed on the girl and Callie merely shook her head, "I'm pretty sure that's Skywarp."

More confusion crept into the other's brown eyes, "Right. And who is he?"

"Trine mate." Callie said with a shrug, knowing that Optimus had wanted to keep their status quiet for the time being. There was no need for the others to know they were bonded yet.

Danny opened her mouth to ask what a trine mate was, completely ignoring the tense feelings in the room, when Ironhide's angry snort cut her off, "Bond mate is mowr like it!"

There was a collective gasp from the humans and Autobots in the room; Jazz's visor darkened angrily while his mate's wings shot high.

Thundercracker stilled once more, pulling Skywarp tighter to his chest as panic volleyed across the bond. For eons they had kept the secret from the Decepticon army and they spend a few hours with the Autobots, and their secret is already out!

Fear ate at Skywarp as he shuttered and curled a little tighter into Thundercracker's embrace.

"Ironhide!" Optimus snapped, disappointment filling the Prime at his weapon specialist's lack of tact.

The red mech snarled again, not caring that he had let out the 'Con's dirty little secret. He wanted his charge back and judging by her father's angry stance, he did as well; and they wanted her back now.

"Donna give meh that Pri'ahm. He has no right ta be here and his _mate_ has no right ta be here!" Ironhide snarled, his optics fixed solely on Anna, "That teleport'en fragger breaks inta our base, makes us look like fools and thinks he can just, what? Take his mate and be off?"

"Like you need my help to look like a fool!" Skywarp hissed back, still keeping Lucy and Anna protected.

"Slagger!" the massive red Autobot hissed, drawing his cannons up, whirling as they powered up.

Callie felt panic spike through her body as she saw the seekers tense and powered their thrusters. They'd be damned if Ironhide was the one to kill them; Lucy and Anna shuttered against the seekers, pressing their small bodies to the seeker's vents.

Optimus's dark blue servo clamped around Ironhide's cannon and forced the weapon down to the ground, "That is enough Ironhide," the Prime said firmly, his gaze narrowed on is old friend, "Thundercracker came here for aid and it is only common sense that his..." Optimus paused before adding, "His mate would be joining him."

The proverbial cat was already out of the bag.

Ironhide snarled, his gaze still locked on the seekers as even more angry voices were heard outside, "Jazz, please keep the rest of crew from the medbay. No doubt what was said here will spread like wild fire before the joor is up," Prowl snapped, his cold gaze lingering on Cliffjumper for longer than a moment, "There is no need for this situation to degrade further into a circus side show."

Danny whistled low at the dig while Ironhide's gaze burning into the Autobot's SIC, Optimus's servo still firm on his weapon. Prowl kept his cool gaze steady as Jazz slipped from the medbay, his jovial voice calming the others outside.

Prowl held Ironhide's hot gaze for a beat longer before he calmly walked to the two seekers; Skywarp hissed angrily as the Autobot drew near, but Thundercracker sighed in relief. Sending waves of calm to his mate, the seeker lieutenant did the only thing he could for his mate, _**'Be calm Sky. Prowl will help us. I'm going to pass over the sparklings to him and then you will surrender until Prime is able to get things under control once more.'**_

' _ **But TC.'**_ Even in his mind, Skywarp was afraid to surrender. Afraid that this was all just a trap, that they would be enslaved and hurt.

More calm flooded through from Thundercracker's side of the bond, _**'It's okay. Prowl will help us and Prime will keep his word.'**_ Thundercracker had no choice but to believe in that. It was the only way he would get what he wanted; a safe place to bring Sky and Star, a safe place to live with them and have Callie taken care of.

If Prime went back on his word now, he would be doomed to death or slavery.

Prowl's slow movements drew the older seeker back to the present; behind him the other Autobots stilled, waiting for the seekers to kill the humans and attack their SIC. All but Callie was waiting for it to happen; the blonde that had stolen the seeker's spark, looked up at him with firm belief in her eyes.

A firm nod from his human steeled Thundercracker's resolve in what he was doing. It was time to rebuild the damaged bridges.

Prowl seemed to be thinking the same thing as he stood, almost protectively in front of the seekers. In a low, even tone, Prowl's voice whispered so that only the seekers could hear, "I am sorry for what transpired here. This was not my intention when I spoke to Optimus and the commanders about your situation."

Thundercracker nodded while Skywarp looked shocked that an Autobot would care about him, in any capacity, "This was not your fault." The older seeker mumbled back.

Prowl nodded, turning his attention to the younger of the two seekers, "Are you well Skywarp?"

The teleporter's ruby optics widened his shock. A mental nudge from Thundercracker had Skywarp slipping over his words, "I…um. Yeah. I…I'm okay. Nothing hurt."

Prowl nodded again, firm and business like, "Good. Now if you would pass Anna to me."

The seeker nodded, moving with deliberate slowness, he offered his servo to Ironhide's charge. Form behind Prowl, the massive weapons specialist growled as Anna carefully climbed onto the offered servo; Optimus kept his servo firm on the cannon, forcing it to the ground.

Never taking his ruby optics from Prowl's cool blue, Thundercracker eased Anna to the Autobot. Grinning, the little girl hopped from the seeker's dark servo to Prowl's pale one. She turned with a grin to the seeker, "Thanks for letting me play with Lucy, Thundercracker." The girl's voice was sweet as honey, "Maybe when Ironhide pulls that stick out of his aft, we can play again."

Even Skywarp balked at the little girl's words and Thundercracker bit his lower lip to stop from laughing. From behind them, Ironhide snarled in indignation while her father scolded her from the ground, "Anna!"

The blue seeker's optics flickered to his human charge and her cousin; the pair were biting their own lips as they tried not to laugh at the girls' sass. A smirk flickered across Thundercracker's mouth, which he buried against the side of Skywarp's helm.

Ironhide's blue optics narrowed on his small charge, weapons still whirling.

The little seven year old girl giggled and clutched at Prowl's digit as he took a step back and lowered her to her father, a glint of mischief in her hazel eyes as she waved good bye to the seekers. Thundercracker's carrier had raised him to be polite and he nodded to the little girl politely, knowing that Ironhide could do no more than growl and hiss like an angry cat.

Lennox then snatched his little girl from the door winger's servo, his hazel eyes narrowed angrily at his daughter, "We'll talk about this later." The N.E.S.T commander hissed as he shoved his daughter behind him.

Prowl straightened back up with the same grace as he always moved, slowly come back to the seekers. Servo held out, his calm voice was soothing, "Now Lucy."

Skywarp wriggled a little in his mate's hold as Thundercracker held his servo out to his little charge, expecting her to come quietly. Lucy's blue eyes glanced up at Thundercracker's frowning face plates, to Skywarp's worried ones and back to Thundercracker.

The small blonde snuggled a little closer to Skywarp's neck, "No."

Thundercracker and Prowl's optics widened at the girls words. The seeker set his wings higher, his voice firm, "I'm not kidding Lucy, it's time to go."

"I'm not kidding either, I don't want to go! Callie got to hang out with you and now I want my turn." The nine year old pouted.

"Lucy," Prowl tried to reason, "There is a strange seeker that we need to processes first. You may play with Thundercracker later."

"No." Lucy snapped again, "I want to play with Skywarp too!"

From behind them, Ironhide snorted while the other Autobots shuffled uncomfortably. No one said no to Prowl.

"We must process Skywarp first. You can play later." The tactician explained softly, logically. It brought surprised looks to both Thundercracker's and Skywarp's faces. Logic however, seemed to be lost on the girl.

"I wanna play now." The blonde huffed, squeezing even closer to Skywarp's throat.

"Lucy!" Callie snapped from behind, "Get down now! Do what you're told!"

Thundercracker winced at his charges tone and the look of anger that flashed over Lucy's face, "Don' wanna!" came the sulky response.

Thundercracker sighed, rubbing at the bridge of his nasal structure in exhaustion while Skywarp giggled. Prowl was an unmoving statue, his white servo still outstretched and waiting for the girl to concede.

Lennox and Epps each shared a worried look; they wanted to get Skywarp down to the brig and hidden away from Mearing before the woman even got wind that the seeker was in the medbay. The longer these shenanigans continued, the greater chance they would be discovered. If Mearing didn't find out about the seeker's location, Optimus was sure he would have far less problems with the Director.

Callie spun around; her blonde hair whipping out behind her, her pale face contorted in anger at her foolish little sister as she faced Danny. The girl was putting so much on the line by acting like a foolish child; she should have known better, "Help them!" Came the angry hiss.

Danny pulled her brown eyes from the back of Prowl's back, a sharp, nasty smirk playing on her lips, "Sure." She chirped amusingly, "But when this is all over, we need to have a conversation about mates, and trines and everything."

Callie felt her eyebrow twitch at her cousin's demand, "Fine. Just get Lucy down before Mearing finds out where Skywarp is."

Danny grinned at her cousin, "Lucy, if you're not on the ground by the time I get back, you're going to regret it." Danny called out before she spun on the balls of her feet and marched from the room; confused N.E.S.T. and Autobot soldiers following her movement.

Lucy 's 'tch' followed Danny on her way out.

The car thief was back inside the medbay a moment later, her hand hidden behind her back as she strutted back into the room. Weaving her way around N.E.S.T. soldiers, she paused beside Lennox. With a grin, she asked, "Got a knife?"

Lennox pressed Anna further behind his body and asked in confusion, "Why?"

Danny's grin met him, "You want me to get Lucy down? Give me a knife."

Will's hazel eyes drifted to Epps, who gave a small shrug. If the girl was dumb enough to try to hurt someone here, she wouldn't make it very far. Slowly reaching for his pocket knife, the N.E.S.T. commander handed the sharp blade over to the car thief.

Nodding her thanks, Danny slipped around the commanders, coming to stand just at Prowl's pede; all eyes and optics on her and the odd object she kept at her back. Looking up, Danny grinned up at the seekers.

"Lucy get down here, or else." Came the simple command.

"Or else what!" Was the snarky retort from the girl.

Danny sighed and pulled Miss Molly out from behind her, pressing the knife the dolls belly. Red and blue optics widened in dumbfounded shock at the girl's next words, "Come down or else I gut Miss Molly."

A terrified gasp left Lucy as she stretched around Skywarp's throat to give her sister a sad look, "You can't!"

From behind Danny, Ironhide's jaw dropped, Hound and Perceptor gave her confused looks and the N.E.S.T. soldiers didn't know what to make of the situation. Prowl's door wings drooped at the illogical situation and the seeker's frowned at Danny's ploy.

Callie's face dropped into her hand with a sigh, "Are you kidding me? That's your plan!"

"You told me to get her down. I have no other ideas, do you?"

Callie's mouth moved up and down like a fish gasping for air as she tried to think. Eventually the blonde sighed and dead panned, "Lucy is going to need therapy for this."

Danny frowned as she turned to her cousin, "Dude. We're car thieves. Car thieves that are trapped on an army base filled with _alien_ soldiers. You think this," she shook the doll a little, "is going to make her crazy?"

Callie had no answer for her cousin's sarcasm; Danny grinned at the blonde again, turning back to look up at Lucy, "Now get down here or Miss Molly gets it."

From the purple shoulder plate, Lucy frowned, curling tighter in the ball on Skywarp's shoulder, "You won't do it." The girl gambled, glancing unsurely up at Thundercracker.

Danny sighed, "Fine." She shrugged and pressed the knife to the wool of the doll.

Thundercracker felt his spark constrict when Lucy looked up at him, worried. He wanted to reassure her, protect her, but right now he needed her compliance, "She's doing it." The seeker shrugged.

Lucy's big, blue eyes widened in fear. "No! Danny stop it!" Came the upset cry of the girl.

Danny stopped, pulling the knife away, pressing her hands to her hips, "Get down!"

"But…"

"Down!" Came Danny's calm voice, "Or I gut your doll."

The room was silent as they waited for the girl's response; Thundercracker and Skywarp watching as Lucy struggled with her choice.

"It's not fair!" the girl burst. "You and Callie and Liz get to play with the Autobots. Why can't I play with Skywarp?"

Danny glanced up to Prowl, who nodded his helm to the girl, "Prowl's right. Skywarp needs to be processed first." She paused before adding, "By Prowl. Make sure it's safe to play."

Lucy shifted, looking back up at Thundercracker's serious face, "You promise?"

"I always keep my word, don't I?" Danny asked.

Lucy's mouth worked, as she wiggled unsure, "And I'll get my doll back?"

"I promise." Danny answered.

Lucy glanced between Skywarp and Thundercracker, still unsure and feeling safe between the two large seekers, "Prowl?" she questioned and the older Decepticon couldn't keep the smirk from his face. Clever girl, making sure that it was cleared by a higher entity.

Prowl's door wings arched high behind his back. He glanced to his Prime before his optics came back to Thundercracker, "Once Skywarp has been cleared to walk about and if it is okay with both your sister and Thundercracker, you may play with Skywarp."

Trapped with no other options, Lucy sighed, "Fine." She grumbled.

Fighting the rising smirk, Thundercracker offered his servo to the blonde; dejected, Lucy nearly threw herself into the servo in a sulk that only a nine year old could manage.

He handed the girl to Prowl, who, through the entire display remained stony faced. The Autobot tactician easily took the girl and handed the sulking child to her cousin. The girl allowed the car thief to take her from Prowl's servo before snatching the doll from Danny's hands and struggling to be put down.

Lifting the knife out of the way, Danny set the girl back to the floor. Lucy looked back up to her cousin with a pout, waiting for instruction, "Go. Out. I bid thee to raise hell elsewhere."

Lucy grinned at the command and the wink Danny tossed to her. Doll in hand, the small blonde ran to the medbay doors; she zig zagged around Callie and dodged N.E.S.T. soldiers. Darting between Hound's pedes, Lucy paused at the door long enough to call back, "Coming Anna?"

The other blonde grinned, slipping from her father's grasp to dart to her little friend. The pair giggled once more before they disappeared from the room, Ironhide's angry gaze on their backs as they ran.

Grinning, Danny walked back to Callie, handing the knife back to Lennox; the N.E.S.T. commander gave her an exasperated look but tucked the blade away none the less.

Glaring, Callie huffed, "You're an ass."

Danny shrugged, "You just said get her down. You gave me no indication as to how."

Ratchet, followed by Sideswipe finally pushed past Jazz, optics widening when they fell on Skywarp. The crimson front liner cursed, blaster coming up with a snarl. Thundercracker tugged Skywarp ever closer to his frame, trying to protect.

"Sideswipe lower your weapon." Prowl snapped, "The issue has been dealt with."

Confusion flickered across the front liner's face as he lowered his weapon, "What? But…"

Danny ignored the crimson mech, turning her attention back to Callie, "How does one become bonded?"

The blonde shrugged, "They interface."

"Inter-wha-ta?"

Above them Sideswipe sputtered, "How do you even know about that!?" His blue optics flicked to Thundercracker, "What in the pit did you teach her!"

Prowl sighed, just wanting the joke that was once a serious situation, ended. Carefully he took Skywarp's arm, looking to address his older mate, "I will ensure Skywarp gets to the brig myself." He glanced back at the others in the room, "No need for accidents."

Thundercracker nodded, noting the way Optimus still held Ironhide's cannon and the way Prowl stood directly in front of the seekers. The older Decepticon released his young mate into the hold of the Autobot SIC, easing Skywarp away from the berth.

The black and purple mech shot his older, calmer mate a look of pure panic; Thundercracker quickly smothered it with as much comfort he could offer his mate, _**'Be good.'**_

' _ **I will.'**_ Skywarp quietly responded as he schooled his expression into a blank look.

Prowl gave the younger Decepticon's arm a firm squeeze as he lead him from medbay, "You will be reunited in due time." Was the soft promise the black and white mech offered.

Skywarp ignored Prowl's words of comfort in favor of casting one last look at his mate. Then he was gone, leaving Thundercracker feeling much more alone than ever.

"Interfacing is sex, isn't it?" Danny's amused voice cut through the fog in Thundercracker's processor and the seeker very nearly laughed at the look Sideswipe and Optimus gave the small human.

()()()

It was dark and quiet in the Autobot's medbay, and all Thundercracker could think was FINALY!

The blue seeker was exhausted, physically, mentally and emotionally. He just wanted some time alone to process what had happened that day and just have some time to decompress.

After Prowl had led his mate away to the brig, the conversation of interfacing and sex had happened. Callie was bad enough but Callie and Danny working together, asking questions, it would have made him blush if he possessed the ability.

Then there was the conversation with Mearing. Thundercracker wanted to gag at the women's mere presence; the Prime had actually talked the woman down from ordering a complete lock down of the base and searching for more Decepticons. Like any others would have come with Skywarp.

Skywarp. Thundercracker sighed, happy that his foolish little mate was safe. Glad that he would at least be willing to listen to Thundercracker's reasoning; seemed to get along with Lucy, who was now grounded for not listening to Prowl.

' _One trine mate down, one to go.'_ Thundercracker mused to himself. The blue seeker worried for his trine leader. He wanted to get him away from Megatron as soon as possible. A few more days of rest and he'd be ready to go; he'd again be strong enough to fly, strong enough to go to the _Nemesis_ and get Starscream.

Optimus had explained, after Skywarp was taken to the brig, that until their trust could be won, a guard would be with both seekers at all times. So long as Thundercracker had Skywarp, Callie and Lucy with him and safe, he didn't care. The Decepticon knew he could win the Prime's trust once he returned with his trine leader.

Fear and guilt ate at the older seeker. Starscream was now alone, trapped on the _Nemesis_ with no one to help him when his mind was in a shambles. No one there to pull him from the darkness when Megatron's own obsessive need to dominate, blinded the Decepticon leader from truly seeing.

Thundercracker shivered despite the heat. There were not many who could have survived what Starscream had gone through and come out whole. That was not to say that his commander was not scarred; there were deep cracks in Starscream's armour that would not heal until he was away from Megatron.

The Decepticon lieutenant just hoped Starscream didn't hate him after all this. He just hoped that Starscream could survive a few days on his own with nothing but his shattered mind to keep him company.

Thundercracker sighed, throwing his arms over his optics as he initiated his recharge protocols. All the seeker wanted, was to rest, he'd worry about the rest tomorrow.

He almost got his wish.

Purple light and a soft _vop_ filled the medbay, making the blue seeker groan and sigh. A heavy weight suddenly landed on Thundercracker's black hips, making the older seeker grunt and sit up in a rush.

His arms instantly wrapped around Skywarp's waist, pinning him down. The younger Decepticon's arms came to Thundercracker's shoulders with a soft giggle, clever digits circling the shoulder vent; the older Decepticon shuttered at his mate's actions. The bond was suddenly filled with Skywarp's mirth and want.

"What are you doing out of the brig?" Thundercracker asked, more tired than annoyed; successfully keeping the want from his voice.

The younger seeker grinned, "Wanted to see you. And you were just up here. All alone. Guard _outside_."

The blue seeker sighed again, dropping his helm to a purple shoulder plate, ignoring the pleasant tingling that came from the shoulder vent, "Sky, I need to rest. Red Alert is going to see you're gone and cause a stink. We don't need any more trouble today, that Mearing woman is a helm-ache enough."

Skywarp nuzzled Thundercracker's black helm, purring softly, "They didn't check all my sub space pockets in the rush to get me down there."

"All the more reason not to mess this up." Thundercracker hissed, unable to stop the shutter caused by Skywarp's ministrations.

Skywarp rolled his optics, ignoring his mate's words, never stopping the gentle rubbing at the blue vent, "I just had a hologram chip and projector. Red Alert still thinks I'm recharging on that crap berth." Lust filled the younger seeker's optics, "Means we have all night before I have to be back."

Thundercracker raised his weary optics to glare at his trine mate, ruthlessly stomping out his own lick of lust, "No." He dead panned.

The younger seeker pouted, "You said you'd show me what in the pit happened out there." Confusion filled the teleporter's optics, "Why do you care about those humans?"

Gathering his patience, Thundercracker took a deep intake of air, "Not tonight Skywarp. I need rest for tomorrow. Prime wants to go over what we will need to do to get Starscream off the _Nemesis_ and I have to present him with Callie's idea of having the Decepticon's as a branch of the Autobot army. I need to rest."

Ruby optics blinking wide, Skywarp's jaw dropped ever so slightly, digits stilling, "Callie's idea?" The confusion seemed like something you could touch, "A branch of the Autobot army? Are you out of your slagging mind! A branch! Starscream will never accept that! He barley bends knee to Megaton, what makes you think he will to the Prime?"

Thundercracker sighed again; all he wanted was some rest, "I know this sounds ludicrous Sky, I know. But right now I need you to just trust me here. I promise when things calm down I will show you everything that happened. Let's just get through this first."

The purple and black Decepticon drew back with a frown, pinning Thundercracker's thighs. For a moment the other seeker looked down, his optics unfocused as he thought, weighed his options; Thundercracker internally snorted as he thought about how everyone thought Skywarp to be dumb. If only they knew how much thought he put into something when he deemed it important.

Too bad much of what Skywarp deemed important was pranks and jokes. Ah well, that would come with maturity.

"No." Skywarp said suddenly, firmly, "I want to know what's going on. I want to know what _happened_ out there that made you…" a black servo waved in a gesture at Thundercracker, "made you like this."

Insult drowned out the last of Thundercracker's lust, "Made me like what?" came the hiss.

The younger seeker's face scrunched in annoyance, "A human lover. When you were…" Skywarp's vents hitched, "When you were left behind you hated humans and now...now you guard those two girls like they were your own."

Sadness and despair filled Skywarp's side of the bond as he looked up at Thundercracker through lidded optics, "Why'd you choose them over me?"

Blue wings sunk lower on Thundercracker's back with a sigh as understanding took hold. Cupping Skywarp's grey face plates, Thundercracker rubbed his thumbs under ruby optics before pressing his mouth softy to his mate's ashy grey ones in a gentle kiss.

Skywarp sighed softly against Thundercracker's lip plates, his servos clutching at blue shoulder armor; his frame softening against his mate. Clicking drew the teleporter's gaze down as Thundercracker's chest panels began to split apart, gold and silver light spilling from the crack.

The teleporter pulled away from his mate, pressing his black servos to Thundercracker's chest to halt the opening of his chest plates. The blue seeker gave his young mate a confused look, hurt bleeding through his tone, "I thought you wanted to see what happened?"

A lusty grin slowly spread across the seekers face plates and a bolt of want shot down Thundercracker's spinal struts, "I do. But you promised that I could frag you beforehand."

Ruby optics widened and darkened at the thought. Swallowing hard, Thundercracker tried to ignore Skywarp's wandering digits as they slipped into transformation seams, tweaking wires along his sides, "S-Sky, not tonight. I need to rest."

The hitch in Thundercracker's venting did nothing to discourage his mate. Chuckling, Skywarp dragged his digits down to his mates black hips as he leaned forward, licking the blue tip of Thundercracker's wing.

As the teleporter's hot glossa ran its way down the thin, sensitive edge of Thundercracker's wing, his digits hooked around a wire bundle that sent a zip of want through the Decepticon. There was a hot rush of fluid between the older Decepticon's thighs, pooling behind his still closed valve cover; only Skywarp would ever have the privilege of taking his valve, the only Decepticon that he had willingly gave it to.

Cool air was suddenly gusted over the now sensitive armor along Thundercracker's wing and the usually calm and conservative seeker gasped, arching into his mate's hold, "Skywarp."

The soft moan of his designation only encouraged the younger Decepticon as he pressed a scolding kiss to his mate's lips; hot glossa's tangled and fought for dominance. It had been so long for them, too long to be separated, too long without their sparks joining.

Pressing Thundercracker down, flat on his back in a submissive position, Skywarp pulled back long enough to lick along the black helm, "Changed your mind huh?" came the soft taunt.

Thundercracker arched up against Skywarp's servos as the teleporter ghosted black hips, "Shut up Skywarp." Powerful thighs fell wide to the sides, wantonly, inviting.

The teleporter grinned before burying his face back into the crook of Thundercracker's throat; one servo ghosting along the wide, sensitive expansion of a blue wing while the other gently rubbed Thundercracker's suddenly quivering thigh.

The blue seeker's own servos touched back; long nimble digits digging into the sensitive seams along Skywarp's chest plates, "We haven't got a lot of time." He rasped, Thundercracker's mouth finding Skywarp's throat, "We have no idea when Red Alert will see you missing."

The purple seeker moaned as Thundercracker's servos moved over his chest, over his shoulders and down his back plates, coming to cup his mate's aft. Rubbing the polished black armour, Thundercracker grinned into his mates throat, "Better do this quick." He purred, shuttering against his mates frame.

Thundercracker sent the command to open his value, relishing in the rush of fluid down his thigh. Skywarp gasped and shot up right, his ruby optics locking on his mate's exposed value, "You're going to let me..."

It wasn't often that Thundercracker would submit. It was a rare moment when the older seeker would allow himself to be pressed back and taken; but when he did, Skywarp knew it as the privilege it really was.

"I'm tired," Thundercracker shrugged with a grin, "You can do the work tonight."

The dumbfounded look melted into want and Skywarp clicked open his interface hatch, his spike erecting with a hiss of pressure. Both seekers shuttered, desire echoing throughout the bond; mirroring what the other wanted.

Skywarp settled over Thundercracker, nosing the tip of his spike into the already quivering valve; with slow, precise movements, the teleporter eased inside, filling his older mate. Gasping, Thundercracker wrapped his long legs around the black waist as Skywarp clutched at blue shoulders.

Edging in inch by slow inch, Skywarp moved painfully slow, allowing his mate time to adjust to his size; the blue seeker's channel was tight and could be easily hurt with uncared movement. Shuttering and gasping, Skywarp finally seated himself entirely in the wet heat, dragging a moan from Thundercracker.

"Missed you." Thundercracker gasped, pulling his mate impossibly tighter to his frame, loving the feel of metal armour on metal armour.

"You too." Skywarp wheezed, clutching at his shoulders.

They lay there for a time, neither wanting to be the one to ruin the moment between them; just enjoying the feeling of their mate's frame against their own. Skywarp, feeling Thundercracker shuttering beneath him, around him and Thundercracker, relishing in the feeling of his mate filling him, completing him.

Love echoed through the bond, bouncing back and forth; growing stronger with each pass.

With no sign or signal, they moved as one; feeling each other out. Skywarp pulled back in a smooth motion before thrusting back in; gasping, the Decepticon lieutenant lifted his hips, meeting his mate's movement thrust for thrust.

Soft noises echoed far too loudly in the silent medbay, metal rubbing against metal adding to the noises of their interactions. Between missing their mate and lacking of physical touch, neither seeker lasted long; energy crackling off over heated plating as they panted.

Energy pooled in joints and along seams, adding to the pleasure, hiking their high closer and closer to overload. They danced and tangled at the edge of overload, pleasure burning through each and every line.

Overload hit hard; ripping through their systems like burning fire, eliciting hot, blazing pleasure from every iota. They cried out in pleasure, the loud noises echoing off the orange, and unknowingly to them, soundproofed, walls of the medbay. It left both Thundercracker and Skywarp feeling strutless, sated and tired. Skywarp lay weakly on his mate's frame, tucking his helm under Thundercracker's chin.

Their armour pinged and popped as it cooled; their fans spinning hard as they panted softly. Still seated within his mate, Skywarp muttered, "That was pretty awesome."

Grunting in agreement, pleasure still tingling through his frame, Thundercracker didn't want to move. He was comfortable, sated, and honestly didn't care if Red Alert found out that Skywarp was out of the brig.

Above him, Skywarp moved gently, easing out of his mate, "Alright. Let's see it."

Thundercracker rolled his optics, sending the command to open his chest plates, glad to see how they moved apart without pain or catching. Silver and gold light bathed the dark frame above him in bright light, sending another shot of want through Skywarp; the seeker never taking his optics from his mate's spark.

Smirking, Thundercracker nudged his mate through the bond, "Later Sky. You want to see, right?"

Tearing his ruby optics from his mate's chest, with far more effort than it should have, to look at Thundercracker's grinning face, a lopsided smirk spread over Skywarp's, his own chest plates sliding open.

Silver light bounced from Skywarp's chest and Thundercracker couldn't stop from reaching out to touch. The teleporter shuttered as a black digit gently stroked the flickering light that was Skywarp's life force; frowning at the black flecks that floated within.

Skywarp had a beautiful spark, Thundercracker thought. Near perfect, far closer to perfect than his own. Grinning, Thundercracker linked his servos with Skywarp, twinning their digits, "Come home sweet, enough of this waiting."

Grinning, Skywarp allowed himself to drop his chest, his spark reaching out for Thundercracker's; pulling and twinning together, becoming one once again. Completing each other in a way that only bond mates could; they both shuttered as feelings of completeness and pleasure filled them.

Thundercracker fought off the happy fuzz that came from spark merging; pushing the memories of the past week to Skywarp. The teleporter gasped, twitching in his mate's hold as he saw his mate's first encounter with the human named Callie, how the bargain had been struck.

He felt Thundercracker's agony from the diesel and how Callie didn't leave him to suffer alone; she stayed with him while he writhed in pain. Skywarp felt his mate's pain at watching fireworks and all the memories that went with it. He witnessed first-hand Callie and Thundercracker's first game of Quid Pro Quo, felt how he trusted the human enough to bare his spark; saw Lucy's emotional break down and learned of the human's past; felt the blinding rage and need to protect the girls when the men attacked them.

Skywarp rejoiced in learning what it felt like to be a hero.

The teleporter followed his mate's memories as he fought Sideswipe, watched his little human fend off her would-be killers and wait for Autobot help. _**'She gets in a lot of trouble, doesn't she?'**_ Skywarp asked, the memory freezing for a moment.

' _ **She does.'**_ Thundercracker agreed fondly, his own care of Callie ricocheting through Skywarp and back, _**'Are you ready to continue?'**_

Amusement and love answered Thundercracker and he allowed the more recent memories to continue; Skywarp was suddenly sitting in Ratchet's medbay, helm aching and speaking to Callie. He listened, as his mate had, intently to the human's words and he could feel the hope rising in his mate at her words.

It was with fear in his spark and a baited breath when Skywarp watched Thundercracker talk with Prowl, and felt his own relief at the Praxian's words of peace. The mostly purple Decepticon watched all the memories up to the moment he teleported into Ratchet's medbay.

Skywarp's spark curled further into Thundercracker's in his want and need of the closeness of the other as he figured out his turbulent emotions. He could see why Thundercracker wanted to stay; could feel his need to protect the humans, Callie and Lucy. They were so small and so much could happen to them; they could be damaged and killed so easily.

Skywarp could feel his own need to protect unfurling in his spark from his mate's memories. He wanted to see them protected, taken care of.

Yet, if Megatron ever caught up with them...

' _ **Prime will protect us.'**_ Came the firm thought from Thundercracker.

' _ **How can you be so sure?'**_ Skywarp was afraid and unsure.

' _ **We'll be his mech's then. And Prime never leaves his mech's behind.'**_ Was the simple, sound reasoning; a deep faith that maybe, just maybe, Optimus was better than Sentinel.

The blue seeker could feel his mates worry, his hesitation; could understand it and did his best to sooth it away. Thundercracker needed Skywarp to be on board with everything.

Pushing his own memories away, Thundercracker sunk deeper into the bond, _**'What happened on the**_ **Nemesis** _ **?'**_

Hesitation hit Thundercracker like a brick wall; hard, unrelenting and cold. The proud, blue seeker pushed past all that, pressing deeper into his mate, _**'What happened Sky? What happened to Starscream?'**_

Thundercracker was careful, oh so careful when asking about his wing leader. The feelings of dread and worry only intensifying as Skywarp shuttered both in body and spark, _**'It was so bad TC. He didn't stand a chance.'**_

Thundercracker gripped his mate tighter, pushing love and support through the bond. Reassurance that nothing would hurt Skywarp now he was with the Autobots. Reassurance they would return only for Starscream.

' _ **What if he won't come?'**_

' _ **Then we hog tie him and drag him here! Lock him up until he calms enough to understand.'**_ There was so much dedication, fierceness in Thundercracker's tone, Skywarp didn't doubt it.

With a shuttering sigh, the younger seeker dragged up the dark memories of the past little while; displaying them for Thundercracker to see. To judge. To feel.

Thundercracker knew the memories would be bad after Skywarp's breakdown with Starscream; knew almost instantly that Megatron had somehow found out. Would use it as an excuse to hurt the air commander but nothing could have prepared the lieutenant for what actually occurred; it made Thundercracker _sick_ to watch his wing leader beaten like a punching bag. Strung up on hooks , spark exposed for all to see, to be hurt.

That, however, had nothing on what happened next. Rage swelled through Thundercracker as he watched Megatron dragged both his mate and wing leader to The Hole; watched with broiling hate as Megatron tortured Starscream and crushed Skywarp's joints. Thundercracker didn't know he could hate someone so much as he did when he felt Megatron's dirty servos ghosting over Skywarp's hips; the same _kill/protect/rage_ feeling enveloped the seeker at witnessing that, as it did when those men tried to rape Callie.

Thundercracker saw that Starscream had been left alive and had been mostly repaired; the ragged hole in his side only covered with weak platting as punishment and it served to ramp the seeker's anger and hate up further. Blood rage filled Thundercracker; his vision whited out, his optics paling in his rage and a possessive growl bit out from the blue seeker. Megatron was going to pay for this, Thundercracker swore to Primus then and there.

It merely strengthened his resolve to stay with the Autobots and bring his trine here.

Thundercracker felt Skywarp shrink away from him as his trembling anger ate away at him; it was not often that the calm, cool seeker allowed the rage to take over but when he did, it was always a spectacular sight to behold.

Taking a deep, calming intake of air, Thundercracker forced himself to relax. Being angry never solved anything and it would solve nothing now.

Carefully detangling his spark from Skywarp's, Thundercracker eased his spark from his mate; hate and anger had washed away any arousal either seeker felt and no pleasure was elicited from the spark merging. It had been one of necessity to pass information through the bond quickly and it left Thundercracker feeling cold, angry and far too miserable.

Sparks returned to their casing while Skywarp shuttered and shook from the experience, just as shaken up about it as Thundercracker. A soft hiccupping caused the older seeker to draw his mate in closer; cupping his face, Thundercracker made Skywarp look at him.

Tears stained the younger seekers face, reminding the other Decepticon how _young_ Skywarp really was; a child of war really, a product of his environment. Yet underneath it all, was a scared, young mech who had far too much to lose. Was in the process of losing all he knew.

A soft chirr left Thundercracker as he rubbed his mate's checks, wiping away the tears, "We will get him out of there. It's going to be okay."

Skywarp fought for control. It was hard for him to do once he lost it and Thundercracker gave him the time he needed, "I'm scared TC," he admitted, "What do we know about being the good guys?"

Frowning, Thundercracker pulled is mate into a soft kiss before answering, "I'm sure our little humans can teach us," Skywarp managed a chuckle at the 'our humans' comment, his side of the bond filling with the same fondness Thundercracker felt. It was the beginning, the blue seeker realised, a new beginning for them, "And we can figure it out as we go."

Skywarp nodded, sniffling as he thought of Starscream. He wouldn't last long without them, not with state his mind must be in; they needed to get him back.

Drawing his wings in close, Thundercracker nudged Skywarp to do the same before rolling them onto their sides.

Nestling in for recharge, Skywarp snorted, "Side sleeper." He scoffed.

Drawing his mate in closer, Thundercracker cuddled in close, "Whatever." He mumbled, recharge protocols finally activating.

"What if Red Alert finds me gone?"

Thundercracker shrugged, "Only for a few hours, then I'll send you back to the brig. No one will know."

Skywarp didn't bother to reply; just sighed happily as he snuggled in deeper into Thundercracker's hold.

By morning the seeker's found it was not Red Alert they needed to fear.

()()()

Thundercracker rested peacefully, arms wrapped around his mate as they continued to recharge, content in each other's arms.

So when a loud _clang_ sounded painfully throughout the medbay and Skywarp was suddenly ripped from Thundercracker's hold, shock and panic ripped through the blue seeker as he snapped online; ruby optics shot to one hundred percent and thrusters powered on to be used as weapons, if the need was great enough.

The Decepticon was met with a very angry Ratchet; the Autobot medic was standing at his side, servos on hips, pede tapping impatiently.

Thundercracker blinked, his optics momentarily stilling at the wrench in the medi bot's servo before tipping to the ground, to Skywarp.

His young mate was clutching his helm, a fist size dent in the back of it from where Ratchet nailed him.

A choked off chuckle revealed they were not alone and Thundercracker cringed at turning around; he did so slowly, seeing that at the door Sideswipe, Callie and Danny all stood grinning at the scene.

Ratchet's carefully controlled voice brought Thundercracker's attention back to the Autobot, "I don't want to know why. I don't care to know how. But _you,_ " the medi bot hissed, jabbing the wrench at the downed seeker, "Are going to clean this up. Right now!"

Thundercracker bit his lower lip, the smell of ozone and last night's actions still lingered in the air. Skywarp looked up at the medic with a pout, "But I…"

"Now!"

"But, the brig…"

Ratchet's wrench snapped in half, "Fuck the brig!" the human curse made the seekers cringe and the audience behind them chuckle, "You interface in _my_ medbay, you clean up _my_ medbay."

Skywarp pouted again, he would rather not clean, "But Red Alert…"

Ratchet hissed, "I've dealt with Red Alert." The medic's voice was like ice, "Now you'll help Sideswipe clean the medbay. Now get up!"

Skywarp hesitated, glancing to his mate before slowly climbing to his pedes, still rubbing at the back of his helm. The medic roughly grabbed the much taller seeker's arm, forced him to turn and marched him to the doorway.

The human's quickly moved, not wanting to get stepped on by the irate medic; Skywarp far too stunned to do more then follow along. The purple and black seeker shot his older mate worried looks, his spark slowly filling with panic.

Thundercracker soothed his mate, told him to do as he was told along the bond. Hiding his own worry at him being hurt from the bond with everything he could.

Swallowing hard, Skywarp allowed himself to be dragged along and shoved roughly into Sideswipe. The Autobot and Decepticon stumbled together, nearly falling, only to catch each other before they hit the ground. The pair suddenly realised what they had just done, straightened up snarled at each other before they turned away from each other; arms crossed scowling at opposite walls.

Ratchet huffed, turning to face Thundercracker, "You!" he barked, "Get off that berth. Find a clean one."

Thundercracker didn't need to be told twice; faster than his frame wanted to move, the seeker eased off the medical berth and hobbled to another. With his body still weak from the surgery, his knees nearly buckled. Ratchet's dark blue optics focused solely on him until he was seated on another berth; ensuring he made it safely.

Once the seeker was seated, Ratchet turned back to the hooligans, "You," a red digit poking Sideswipe's crimson plating, "Take him," said digit then jabbed Skywarp, "down to the supply closet. Get what you need and get back here."

Sideswipe sighed, watching a still grinning Callie walk to where Thundercracker sat while Danny hung close to him, "Yes Ratch." The frontliner droned out.

"I mean it!" Came the snarl that produced a flinch from both the front liner and seeker, "There and back. No funny business."

The crimson mech watched as Thundercracker bent down to lift Callie to the med berth; she settled easily beside him, "I know Ratch. No funny business."

Ratchet growled at the smirk on the others face, "Get. Now!"

Flashing one last grin, Sideswipe nodded to the door, "Come on Skywarp."

As Danny ran ahead to keep pace with Sideswipe, Skywarp cast one last worried look at Thundercracker before he left with a sigh, following the front liner into the hall.

Thundercracker forced himself to relax on the med berth; they needed to be the ones to extent trust first, the ones needed to show they could be trusted.

Ratchet went about his normal routine, grumbling angrily as he looked over Thundercracker's systems, inwardly pleased with the progress the seeker was making. His irritation hiding any happiness the ambulance may have felt.

Callie sat beside her guard, glad that she had not been kicked out. Glad to spend some time with Thundercracker when he was not slowly bleeding out.

Her grin widened as she glanced up at grey face plates, "So, were you pitcher or catcher?" she asked lightly, the sharpness in her smirk belaying her mirth.

Both Autobot and Decepticon glowered at the small human as her laughter filled the medbay.

()()()

Skywarp snarled and glared at the back of Sideswipe's helm. Of all the Autobot's he would have to spend time with, it would have to be the front liner and his damned 'jet judo.'

The crimson mech strode ahead of him, the human cousin of Callie jogging alongside of him; the pair grinning at each other, some untold joke between them. It annoyed the young seeker; he wanted to be in on the joke to.

Yet, he didn't want to know. Didn't want to know this mech or his dumb human; did he? Skywarp growled, rubbing still at his hurting helm, Thundercracker may have wanted to live there with Autobots, but that didn't mean he did, then again…

He was confused and Skywarp didn't like to be confused. He liked things to be simple. Black and white. Autobot and Decepticon. Easy.

Skywarp didn't like change; it scared him. He liked things to stay the same, liked things as he knew it. As it has always been since he was a youngling. He fought Autobot's and they fought him, none of this getting along slag. He didn't know this, didn't know Autobots or their ways. Thundercracker, however, thought this could work. Had confidence that this change would be for the better; to get themselves and Starscream away from Megatron.

But Skywarp was scared.

Love echoed over the bond, giving the younger seeker a boost of confidence and the courage to look up, "Where we going?" he asked roughly, hoping to choke back the emotion in his voice.

Sideswipe finally stopped beside a wide door, his grin still firmly in place and it made Skywarp nervous. Danny still grinning as she stepped to the side of a door, "One quick stop first." The front liner smirked.

Palming the door open and nearly dragging Skywarp in with him, Sideswipe strutted into the rec room. Skywarp froze, his frame stiffening and ready to flee.

All conversation stopped dead as all optics turned to the seeker and front liner in silent shock; it took every ounce of will power on the seeker's half to not just teleport back to the safety of his mate. Cliffjumper's mouth moved up and down as he stared at the purple seeker, his digit pointing uselessly.

"By now I'm sure you've all heard the rumours of Skywarp and Thundercracker being bonded." Sideswipe said loudly, echoing in the silent room, "And I'm here to say it's true!"

Skywarp fidgeted as he glanced at Sideswipe's grinning face; he didn't like how they all stared at him. Most looked angry, unsure, untrusting. Most looked like they wanted to hurt him.

A heavy sigh interrupted the silence, "'Side's, what'cha doing here wit' Skywarp? Why's he outta the brig?" Jazz asked tiredly, already starting to stand.

Sideswipe's grin got just a little wider, "Well you see my fine commander, Skywarp and myself are on our way to the supply closet for cleaning supplies. Wanna know why?"

Jazz frowned at the front liners leer, "Why?" he asked slowly.

Sideswipe's black servo dropped heavily onto Skywarp's purple shoulder plate, his grin widening further, "We are on our way to the supply closet to fetch cleaning supplies for the medbay, because we have to clean it, because Skywarp interfaced with his bond mate there."

Humiliation burned through Skywarp; bond mates were forbidden within the Decepticons. Interfacing was frowned upon and thought as weak, having to follow ones basic needs. There was a collective gasp throughout the Autobots had Skywarp jamming his optics shut, waiting for the laughter, the mocking to start.

So, the Autobot's were as bad as the Decepticons. He was to be humiliated for their enjoyment. They were going to take something private and beautiful between himself and his bond mate and wre…

The room suddenly erupted into cheers and clapping; Skywarp jolted towards Sideswipe at the unexpected noise of jubilance as the Autobots cheered. Some clapped, some laughed in delight that was not directed at him, while others just looked shocked.

None mocked him.

"Why are you not deactivated!" one yelled.

"You...you didn't!" yelled another.

"He did!" Sideswipe yelled back, his grip still firm on the seeker.

Jazz managed to fight the crowded room to the Autobot and Decepticon. His visor flashed bright as he looked between the two, "He didn't."

"He did." Sideswipe smirked, confirming.

Jazz smirked, "Get go'en before Ratchet starts to wonder where y'all are."

The saboteur had to yell over the noise of the still cheering Autobots. Sideswipe grinned at his commander before he grabbed Skywarp's arm to lead him from the rec room.

The seeker blinked at the near silent hallway; they could still hear the cheering from the rec room as Sideswipe bent and allowed Danny to climb on his waiting hand.

The frontliner continued down the hall, not waiting for the seeker to follow; knowing that any codling would be seen as weak. Skywarp sighed and after a moment followed.

"Why'd you do that?" the Decepticon asked as Sideswipe came to the storage closet he was looking for.

"Because by tonight you'll be a legend, less of them will want to bother you then." The crimson mech simply answered as he shifted Danny to his shoulder. "And you did interface in _Hatchet's_ medbay. That's an achievement and a half if I've ever seen one."

Skywarp frowned as Sideswipe handed him a bucket, more confused than ever, "That makes no sense! Why do you want to help me?" The seeker sneered, nearly throwing the bucket in a fit.

Sideswipe sighed, leaning against the wall with the opposite shoulder that Danny sat on, "Because Thundercracker wants to try. Because Optimus wants change." The frontliner shrugged, "I'm sick of war. I want it to end. I don't want to die."

It was a tough admission, but Sideswipe had been to battle enough times, seen his brother hurt and near dead enough times to be sick of it. If this was the chance that was offered, even Sideswipe was not stupid enough to let it pass by.

Danny shifted uncomfortably on the front liner's shoulder, hanging onto the frontliner's every word.

"But...but why?" came Skywarp's quiet, brittle question. No one was nice to him, not anyone outside of his trine. He didn't trust it when others were nice to him.

Sideswipe shrugged again, "There's a certain amount of respect between you and I. We have yet to kill each other after all these eons. We both know the other can take whatever we can throw at each other." The Autobot turned to pull more supplies from the closet, "Besides, you're going to need a friend here. There's a lot of Autobots here that will want to rip your wings off."

Once the crimson mech got what he wanted he palmed the door closed, turning to face the Decepticon; Skywarp scowled at the Autobot, the bucket tight in his servos, "And you don't?"

"I told you, there's a certain amount of respect." Sideswipe shrugged as he began to head back to the medbay, Skywarp following, "Besides, I've heard you enjoy a prank or two."

Skywarp's helm snapped to Sideswipe's and Danny's grinning faces, "I do." He said slowly, "So?"

Shifting the cleaning supplies under one arm, Sideswipe grinned and extended a servo, "Then what I see is an Autobot/Decepticon alliance in the making."

Skywarp eyed the servo suspiciously, not trusting the Autobot. He wouldn't put it past the Autobot to screw him over, "And if we get caught?"

Sideswipe made a 'pfft' noise, "Time in the brig at worst, extra duties at best. And that's only _if_ we get caught."

True amusement and mirth shone in the Lamborghini's optics, his servo never wavered, "Come on. It'll be fun."

Skywarp bit his lip, unsure. He glanced down to the offered servo and back to the grinning mech. Slowly, hesitantly, Skywarp took Sideswipe's servo, squeezing tight.

Sideswipe's grin turned into a genuine smile, as the front liners optics filled with light mischief and Skywarp couldn't help but think that maybe this time, change was a good thing.

()()()

TBC...


	15. Nemesis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Starscream breaks down on Nemesis while Megatron relishes in his victory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Important Information
> 
> "Blah" Speaking
> 
> :Blah: comm. link
> 
> 'Blah'bonded speech
> 
> 'Blah' thinking
> 
> Astrosecond- 2.5 earth Seconds
> 
> Klik- 150 earth seconds/ 2.5 earth Minutes
> 
> Orn- 150 earth minutes/ 2.5 earth Hours
> 
> Joor- 60 earth hours/2.5 earth Days
> 
> Metacycle- 17.5 earth days/2.5 earth Weeks
> 
> Vorn- 10 earth weeks/2.5 earth months
> 
> Stellercycle-30 earth months/2.5 years
> 
> Breem-slang for a moment/minute.
> 
> Night Cycle: star down to star up
> 
> Day Cycle: Star up to star down
> 
> Authors Note: Well this is the chapter so many of you have been waiting for, what is happening to Starscream!
> 
> Huge thank you to DarknessRising10, who did all the beta work for this chapter. As always, you did a great job and your opinion is always so important. :D
> 
> Also, I want to give a shout out to naboru-narluin, whose depiction of the Combaticon's is amazing and helped inspire part of this chapter.
> 
> Disclaimer: I own only my OC's, nothing else.

Onslaught walked calmly down the dark halls of the _Nemesis_ , his arms firmly still by his side, visor dim and focused firmly ahead. As he passed other Decepticons he ignored them, ignored the smirking stares and the near mocking grins of his _comrades_.

None would have the brass ball bearings to come right out and laugh at him, not if they wanted to live. So instead, they mocked him and his team from behind; laughing at how they were forced to bend knee to Megatron. How they had no choice when it came to Megatron's orders, that they had been reprogrammed to follow his orders with no questions asked.

They were glorified pets. Ones that could be, and would be, destroyed at any given notice.

His team found their own ways to deal with it; Swindle toyed in the human black market. Brawl had an old human gaming system converted so he could play it. Blastoff read whatever he could get his servos on and Vortex surprised the hell out of him, by adopting a small pack of wolves that lived not far from their small base.

Blasted mech had cut a bloody path across half the galaxy, Autobots feared him as the sadistic interrogator of the Decepticon army and he played with Primus be damned, organic mutts.

Onslaught sighed, forcing his arms to remain at his sides. If the little psycho wanted to play with that organic slag, fine. If it kept him sane enough not to kill his own team in their sleep to stop the unnaturally soft feelings from the gestalt bond, so be it.

If playing with the wolves kept Vortex quiet, happy and most importantly, not annoying Onslaught, then all the better.

While his team mates had their own way of dealing with their enslavement, and really that's what it was, Onslaught preferred his. He dreamed of not freedom, because he had never truly been free, but of vengeance.

Vengeance for the invisible ropes around his neck, for the torture and horror they had suffered at Shockwave's servos whilst trapped, bodiless. For all they had come to suffer in the name of Megatron's glory.

Onslaught vowed, every day and night cycle, he would see to it that Megaton be destroyed; his energon blood splattered across the battle field, covering his servos, soaking them. It was what kept him going most cycles, is what kept his helm up, in the game and looking out for his foolish team.

It was the only thing stopping him from putting a blaster to his helm and pulling the trigger. Better to be dead than a broken slave but Onslaught would see his team through this. This form of slavery would end, just as their time with Shockwave ended. Another would no doubt begin for them but it would always end eventually.

Onslaught vented hard again, clenching his trembling servos into tight fists. He hated being in the _Nemesis_. It unnerved him and he didn't know why Vortex insisted on coming down here so often, the little slagger Vortex came to visit was hardly worth it. He hated being in the same base as Megatron, never mind the same room as the slagger.

Now, because of Vortex's stupidity he was about to be doing both.

The massive Decepticon passed through the science wing of the war ship in silence, fists clenched in barely checked rage, near fear tingeing the black anger that swelled.

The science wing, even the black walls, was clean, spotless, sterile, so very Starscream and it brought the older Decepticon a measure of peace, of reassurance.

It had been Starscream that had found their personality components and rescued their sparks from Shockwave. It had been Starscream that had rebuilt his body, and the bodies of his gestalt mates and it had been Starscream that had saved them from the horror of Shockwave toying with their minds and memories.

The seeker had done all this for his own selfish needs, no doubt, but he had done it all the same.

Being near the seeker helped calm the gestalt leader; he was as much of a slave to Megatron as he was. The air commander couldn't save him, Onslaught had no delusions about that, after all, how can you help others when you can't even save yourself? Yet, it had been Starscream who had at least gave him the half chance to maybe not live, but survive.

" _Slagging pit fraggers!_ " Was suddenly snarled, echoing through the hall from the only open door, Starscream's laboratory.

The larger Decepticon slowed to a stop, carefully listening again for the voice that he had instantly recognized as Starscream's voice. Glancing around, Onslaught vented a soft sigh, moving slowly to the open door.

It had been weeks since he had really been needed in the _Nemesis_ and Onslaught was pretty out of the loop with the goings on and gossip of the crew. Yet there was no denying the broken, brittle voice of the air commander. It was disturbing to hear Starscream's voice like that, to hear the sassy seeker shattered.

It sent a chill through Onslaught. If Megatron could break Starscream, truly break Starscream, one of the most stubborn and back stabbing mechs around, what hope did he have?

Flexing his servos, Onslaught crept ever closer to the open door, feeling foolish as he peeked around the door. The Combaticon leader felt like a sparkling witnessing something he shouldn't, something private and wrong as he watched Starscream and it made Onslaught hate where he was all the more.

Starscream was bent over a lab table, probably didn't even realize he had the door to his lab wide open; he gripped the edge of the silver table, his battered blue servos clenching the edge tight enough to warp the metal. His wings, usually so high and proud, drooped low on his back as his shoulders heaved with hard breaths.

The seeker's coloring was all wrong too; the sleek crimson, pearl white and cobalt blue were so dull, the colours looked as though they had faded, almost grey looking; Onslaught nearly missed the silver of a temporary plate in his side.

The Combaticon frowned from behind his battle mask, the state of the plate was a disgrace and he wondered why Hook hadn't replaced it yet. Once shining silver, the temporary plate was beginning to rust and flake at the edges; a tell tale sign that the plate had been there far too long. Soon wires would begin to rust away, causing short outs and contaminating energon lines.

"Slaggers!" Starscream hissed again, his grip tightening further on the table.

Onslaught's frown deepened and slowly he backed away from the open door. He didn't want Starscream to know he was there, didn't want him to know that he had seen him so broken. Onslaught didn't want to see Starscream so broken.

The Combaticon leader walked swiftly down the hall of the science wing; not fleeing per say, he was far to controlled for that, but he didn't want to be there any longer. He was determined to get what he came for and leave, and the sooner the better as far as Onslaught was concerned. The large Decepticon rounded the corner, heading to Megatron's quarters only to come face to face with a smirking Motormaster. The big, dark Decepticon was leaning up against the wall, his arms crossed.

Onslaught felt a rush of hate towards the other gestalt leader; he was no better than Megatron's pet. He practically licked the slagger's pedes; it was disgusting. Where was his pride?

Helm held high, shoulders loose and ready to fight should the need arise, Onslaught tried to ignore the other Decepticon.

"Looks like the seeker has finally bent over to Megatron like the little whore that he is." The sharp, nasty grin spread on Motormaster's face and it made Onslaught pause for a moment. He was so close to getting what he came for and leaving.

Dull red optics narrowed behind an orange visor, the light flaring in annoyance. "What are you going on about now?" Onslaught snarled back, his tone as scathing as the Stunticon's.

The grin just got wider. "Didn't ya hear? Thundercracker was shot down about two weeks ago and Skywarp has gone missing. Starscream is cracking without his pathetic trine to hold him up." The dark purple helm canted, as though amused. "Who'da thought that getting rid of the trine mates would make Starscream finally fall."

Fists clenched harder at Onslaught's sides as hate for this mech rose like bile in this throat. Primus he hated Motormaster. "Why do you think I give a slagging shit about Starscream?"

The human curse felt good. Like a small rebellion to Megatron by using human words like that, a small reminder that his mind was still his, in even the smallest of ways.

Motormaster's grin widened yet again and he eased himself off the wall to take a step closer to Onslaught. The mostly purple mech leaned in close with a leer, "Go ahead. Lie to yourself. The whole crew knows how you pine after that stupid slagger."

Motormaster was baiting him and Onslaught knew it. The Combaticon wouldn't be so stupid as to fall for such an obvious trick; besides Onslaught didn't pine for Starscream. He respected him as a commander, was even, dare he say it, grateful for freeing him. Yet he didn't pine like so many thought he did.

There was no point in trying to argue. It would only serve to give Motormaster the satisfaction of unnerving him, "If you have nothing important to say, I'm going. Megatron is waiting."

The Combaticon's cold words were ignored by the Stunticon leader; Motormaster merely grinning as Onslaught pushed past him, their shoulders shoving against each other as he passed.

"If I'd have known that taking out his trine mates would break that slagger, I'd have done it long ago." Motormaster called out as Onslaught walked away.

Onslaught didn't dignify the Stunticon's mocking words with an answer. Instead he stayed the course, marching coldly, unemotionally to Megatron's quarters. Part of Onslaught thought he got there too quickly; he didn't want to deal with the sadistic slagger. Yet, the sooner he did the sooner he'd get to return to his own base.

Venting hard, the Combaticon leader pinged for entrance to Megatron's quarters.

The double black doors slid open with perfect ease; Megatron may be a crazed slagger who treated his mech's like crap, but his ship _always_ worked in perfect condition.

Onslaught walked in with the same confidence he always carried himself with, burying his hate and unease down as deep as he could. He detached himself from the situation as he walked into Megatron's quarters.

He spotted his hated Master the moment he stepped into the dark room, his grey armour lit blue by monitor screens; Onslaught knew there were other rooms attached to this main room. A private wash rack and a berth room for sure, but rumor had it that Megaton also had a room for _punishing_ unruly crew members and he couldn't help but wonder if Starscream had ever suffered in that.

Shoving those thoughts away, Onslaught moved to his Master's side, coming to stand. Before the order to _Kneel_ was uttered, he caught sight of the smirk that play on Megatron's face and what he watched on the screens.

One monitored Soundwave as he worked, another on Hook in the medbay…Onslaught suppressed another snarl at seeing the medic; now there was a mech that pined for his body, but it was Starscream, still unmoving in his laboratory, that Megatron focused on. So, not even Megatron's most trusted were all that trusted, Onslaught mused to himself.

Then, the order to kneel was uttered and Onslaught was unable to fight the command. One moment he was standing the next, he was on his knees, battle mask scrapping the ground and it was through sheer will alone that Onslaught didn't snarl.

A coarse servo began to stroke the top of Onslaught's helm and again the word _pet_ came to mind. Megatron did this on purpose; beat his pride down further just because he could, because he wanted to, because he _enjoyed_ it.

Onslaught wanted to rage, wanted to purge his tanks. He wanted to take Megatron's fucking helm from his shoulders and use it as an over sized soccer ball. The reprogramming patch didn't stop such thoughts, thank Primus, but it stopped such actions.

Instead of doing what he wanted, Onslaught stayed as still as he could; allowing Megatron pet his helm like an oversized cat in one of those bad movies that Brawl like to watch. The one's where the super villain would stroke the dumb cat while he grinned like a fool and explain his whole plan to the hero.

Only here, Onslaught was the damn cat.

It went on for what felt like orns, when really it was mere kliks. Megatron's blunt, rough digits rubbed at his helm, scrapping at the paint, "You know where he is." Megatron droned out, his blood red optics still boring into the screens, watching Starscream crack.

"Thank you Lord Megatron." Onslaught heard himself say but he did not register the words leaving his mouth.

The Combaticon didn't move until Megatron removed his servo from his helm and said, "You may go now." With far more sarcasm than was truly necessary. Megatron really, really enjoyed humiliating him. Enjoyed taking what little pride he had left and crushing it.

"Thank you Lord Megatron." He muttered again, feeling the burn of the words in his throat.

With Megaton still smirking at his discomfort, Onslaught slowly stood and walked to the door. He moved slowly with the same deadly grace of a killer; if he tried to leave quickly, Megatron would call him back and make him wait longer. To 'teach him patience' the titan leader would say.

Onslaught finally allowed himself to snarl once the double doors to Megatron's quarters snapped shut behind him, closing off the Decepticon leader's smirking face.

()()()

The Combaticon moved quickly through the dark halls, descending deeper into the bowels of the ship. Down deep to the room that held The Hole. He managed to avoid any other Decepticons in his decent, something that Onslaught was grateful for; he just wanted to go home.

The room that held The Hole was the same as always; cold and dark with the odd leak that dripped salty water. Onslaught ex-vented hard as he quickly crossed the room to the door of The Hole.

He had been there many a time to collect his foolish team mate; like all flyers, Vortex hated tight spaces. Just like the seekers, The Hole was a special kind of hell for him and it was going to take Onslaught a while to bring the helicopter back around to fully functional.

Maybe he'd take him to the forest to play with his mutts.

Shaking the thoughts from his helm, the Combaticon commander spun the wheel and pulled the door open, catching Vortex as he fell forward into his chest plates; red visor near pink and flickering, rotors hanging low on his back.

"Hate confined spaces." Vortex muttered weakly into Onslaught's chest plates, his battle mask scrapping against the turquoise of his commander's armor.

The Combaticon leader sighed. "Was the kid really worth it?"

Vortex giggled as he lay limp in Onslaught's hold, not even trying to stand after his time locked away. "Kid's a great frag. 'Course he was worth it."

Shaking his helm, Onslaught hefted his team mate up and slung him over his shoulder, carrying the interrogator like a sack of potatoes. "How'd you end up here?" He snarled out his own anger at having to deal with Megatron finally bubbling to the surface.

Vortex allowed Onslaught to carry him, lying weakly over his shoulder. "His commander's a fucking prick."

Onslaught sighed again, walking quickly through the halls of the _Nemesis_ , carrying his foolish team mate to the command hub. He said nothing to Soundwave, who was on duty; the communications officer following his movements behind his yellow visor. A silent understanding passed between the two commanders as Onslaught passed, heading to the surface. Once the towers were activated, Onslaught powered his thrusters and didn't feel an ounce of relief until he broke past the barrier and hit open sky and clean air.

Powering his thrusters to full capacity, Onslaught turned and headed in the direction of home, Vortex slung over his shoulder like a sack. It wasn't until Onslaught could no longer see the _Nemesis_ on the horizon, and was far from Soundwave's monitors, did the commander stop.

Still hovering high in the air, Onslaught rearranged Vortex in his arms; slinging the helicopters legs over one massive arm, while the other wrapped around his back. Humans would have called it 'bride style' but the Combaticon commander saw it as a small way to give comfort to his gestalt mate.

Settling into his arms, Vortex's frame was unnaturally soft, still trembling at what he had just lived through. "Thanks," he grumbled, "Abdominal plating was starting to cramp and buckle."

Powering his thrusters back to full capacity, Onslaught continued home. "Shut up Vortex."

The smaller Combaticon laughed, slipping into recharge after the stress of The Hole, knowing Onslaught would get them home. Onslaught sighed again, whether he liked it or not, they were all they had on this Primus forsaken mud pit called Earth.

()()()

Megatron smirked to himself as Onslaught left his quarters, his light grey digits drumming on the arm of his throne. He enjoyed toying with the Combaticon leader, he got a kick out of the power he had over the other. He knew, just knew deep down that if given half a chance, Onslaught would kill him, would rip his innards out and make him eat them.

Megatron chuckled as he leaned back, crossing his ankle over his other knee. He watched Onslaught's trip down to The Hole to collect Vortex, looking for, almost hoping for a reason to call the Combaticon leader back, to force him to kneel, to submit. Onslaught was as much fun to break as Starscream. To watch the Combaticon crack and crumble beneath his servos was a joy Megatron took at every opportunity. He could appreciate why Shockwave enjoyed toying with commander's mind, Onslaught always put up a fight.

Just as much fight as Starscream did, which made it all the sweeter when they cracked. It was why Megatron degraded the Combaticon, forced him to kneel, treated him like a pet, forced his face into the dirt where it belonged.

He knew Onslaught hated him, despised him; hated what had been done to him and his gestalt and he probably hated Shockwave just as much, if not more. That just made it all the sweeter and the sweetest part was, there was not a damn thing he could do about it. Trapped within the reprogramming patch, the Combaticons were forced to kneel at his word.

The Decepticon leader followed Onslaught through the security cameras, laughing to himself before blood red optics flickered to Hook as he worked in the med bay, his laughter turning to a smirk.

Hook had, on more than one occasion, requested _time_ with the Combaticon; had hoped that Megatron would order it so Onslaught would have no choice but to comply. Megatron had of course refused Hook his request. Not out of some need to protect the Combaticon but just to watch Hook squirm. The Constructicon so badly wanted the Combaticon beneath him and it amused Megatron to watch.

Of course, there was also the amusement at watching Onslaught twitch and writhe in worry at the fact that Megatron just _might_ issue the order. The sense of power made Megatron laugh, and tingle with excitement. Maybe he would one day issue the order. Just to watch Onslaught squirm and try to fight the reprogramming patch, only to break to it and spread his legs for the medic.

Megatron would remove his visor, so he could relish in the joy of watching those oh so expressive optics shine in horror at what he was about to do; knowing that nothing would stop it from happening.

Smirking to himself, Megatron tented his digits over his propped knee and watched Onslaught leave, fleeing back to the safety of his base. It really wasn't as safe as Onslaught like to believe but it was something else Megaton enjoyed. He gave them that base and he could take it away from them, and they all knew it.

Laughing again, Megatron turned his attention back to his favourite toy, Starscream.

The light blue light reflected off his light grey armor, his red optics darkening in lust as he watched the seeker break. Starscream hadn't moved for a few orns; his servos warped the metal of his table and his arms shook with the strain of being so stiff for so long. He was breaking, shattering and Megatron lavished in it. Starscream was his and his alone and if he ever wanted to bring the air commander to heel, he needed him shattered. It was the only way to rebuild Starscream into what he saw fit.

Megatron grinned to himself; if he had known that stripping Starscream of his trine would have broken the seeker like this, he would have done it a long time ago. It would have saved him eons of work, of fun maybe, but work none the less.

Megatron wanted the seeker, wanted to possess him in every way. Megatron already possessed his body; he had completed that conquest long ago. He had never taken the seeker by force, had never really had to pin Starscream down and force him to submit; but Starscream had never really said _yes_ either, however he had never had the choice to say no. Megatron smirked to himself as he settled back into his throne, waiting for the show to start, allowing his mind to wander and muse.

Starscream would never say no to him, not when he wanted the seeker in his berth, not with his trine's safety on the line. The first time Starscream had said no to him, had dared refuse him, Megatron had threatened to drag Thundercracker into his quarters, followed by Skywarp. Starscream's garnet optics widened in shock, in fear, at the prospect of his trine being where he was; the trine leader had gritted his denta and agreed to Megatron's demands, all of them, and he had never said no since.

That had been several eons ago.

Megaton knew Starscream had only done it in order to protect his trine; he was trine leader after all and that job fell to him. Megatron had used that to own Starscream, his body anyway.

Yet Megatron still didn't own Starscream in mind. Over the centuries it had become a game to him, an obsessive mission to control Starscream but the seeker had fought and defied him at every turn and honestly, that was part of the appeal. Starscream fought like a turbo fox caught in a trap to keep his mind his own and Megatron was there, tightening the noose little by little.

Today however, may finally be the breaking point for his air commander.

Who would have thought that Thundercracker's disappearance and Skywarp's subsequent _betrayal_ would be the final straw that broke the camel's back. Fairly ironic, considering all that Starscream had really sacrificed in order to protect them. Whether or not Thundercracker and Skywarp truly left Starscream was debatable, all that mattered was that Megatron plant the seed of doubt.

Something he had already done, and would do again. Megatron was a patient mech; he would wait for Starscream to be at his weakest, his most vulnerable before he planted the seed of hate alongside the seed of doubt. He just needed to wait for the right moment.

Then, and only then, would he truly own Starscream's mind and he would possess the seeker in every possible way. Starscream would hate Megatron, despise him more than he already did after the Decepticon leader broke Starscream away from his trine, yet Megatron couldn't bring himself to care. He, at least, would finally achieve one of his single minded goals and break the seeker permanently.

Megaton often wondered, usually just before his recharge protocols took him for the night and he passed out, what would he do with his time if ever did break Starscream. He had spent so much time working on the seeker, eroding away his defences bit by bit, he wondered what he would possibly do with all his free time, once he possessed Starscream in both mind and body.

The massive grey warlord grinned to himself. There would only be a single conquest left in Starscream, and that would be to own the little glitch's spark. Megaton felt a tingle, almost like a shutter run up his spinal struts at the thought. He had taken the seeker in every physical way, but the seeker's spark? The dark thought made Megatron's mouth water. It had taken eons to break Starscream down mentally; perhaps Megaton could make a game out of taking the seeker's spark as well.

Maybe he would try to see if he could cut the time down, turn it into a game to own the seeker's spark in less time than it did to own his body. It was a plan worthy enough to look into, at the very least.

Megatron laughed suddenly as Starscream moved on the monitors. He had been so still for so long but was now a flurry of angry movement. He dragged his blue forearms across the wide, silver table with a rage filled bellow, flinging everything that sat so pristine flying to the floor. Glass vials shattered and their steal holders bent as Starscream's projects exploded in a mess of glass, steel and colour. Chemicals spilled across the steel floor, destroying the projects that Starscream had been working so hard on, things Megatron could barely catch the gleam of.

It wasn't as thought Megatron was a stupid mech, far from it. One could not be so dull and lead an army like the Decepticons; but Starscream's theories on energy production from the ocean, clean energy at that, held no interest to the warlord. Yet Megatron let the seeker toil away at his projects since they kept Starscream busy when Megatron didn't need his _services_.

Now however, all the seeker's hard work was for nothing. Everything splattered across the floor in a sizzling mess of liquid and goop because of a moment of unchecked rage. Starscream's fists where clenched in fury as he tried to stare a hole into the mess on the floor; his venting increased and hitched in his anger and his frame trembled with rage. Starscream grit his denta so hard, Megatron would have bet good energon he could taste metal shards.

Perfect.

Megatron felt an almost giddy grin spread across his own, grey face. Starscream would never be lower than he was at that very moment.

Moving with the predatory grace of a gladiator from Kaon, Megatron stood from his throne and moved to leave his quarters. He needed to go have a little talk with Starscream.

()()()

Starscream stood stock still, looking down at the mess on the floor through a haze of rage and hate that covered the massive hurt in his spark. Skywarp and Thundercracker had left him, left him in the Pit to rot alone. Trineless.

After all he had done for them. _After all he had done for them!_

He had protected them, shielded them from Megatron. Stood between them and sure death countless times, allowed Megatron access to his own fragging body just to ensure their safety! Took everything Megatron threw at him just to ensure their safety, and they turned tail and left him!

The trine leader had even protected their bond by keeping the secret from Megatron. While they got to go off and discover the joys of a spark bond, the true feeling of being loved and to love beyond that of brothers or wing mates, Starscream had in a way been left behind.

He still had no idea what it was to be loved unconditionally; he had few memories of his creators and he didn't think he was capable of loving so deeply as to bond with anyone else. With a deep, shuttering sigh, Starscream slowly picked his way around the broken glass of what were once his projects, to get out of the way of the small cleaning drones that were dispersed from the walls. They set about their work, sucking up the chemicals, diffusing them and gathering up the glass.

Starscream sighed and leaned back against the far side of the table, crossing his arms. He needed to get himself together before Megatron came wandering by as he always did when he was emotionally wrecked. Slagger had to be psychic; there was no other way his commander could always know when he was at his weakest.

Instead, the air commander let his mind wander back to his trine and his denta clamped down hard on his lower lip, hard enough to taste energon. Tempering his anger, Starscream tried to think through it rationally. Thundercracker had been shot down, not his fault. If anything, that was Starscream's fault. Guilt overshadowed his anger for a moment. Starscream should have taken the hit for Thundercracker, should have disregarded Megatron's order and gone for him, should not have left him crashed in the Earth.

As well, he should not be so surprised that Skywarp had gone after his mate. It was only a matter of time before the youngest of the trine would leave and go looking for Thundercracker; really Starscream should be surprised that he had waited as long as he had.

Still... _they left him!_

The rage returned tenfold then. They were always leaving him out of the trine, they had gone off behind his back and bonded, had not asked _him_ what he thought of it, had not bothered to ask _him_ if he was okay with the situation. He was trine leader damn it! They should have at least asked him if he was okay with it.

But no! Instead those two little twerps had left him to his own devices and bonded, leaving him to clean up their foolish mess and covering for them in their lie.

Starscream snarled and to anyone passing, from the outside it would look as though he was furious. They would have only been half right; Starscream, for all his swagger, his smooth talking ability, for all his rage, felt so inadequate, so hurt in a spark deep sort of way. Trine members where never suppose to be just a pair and Starscream was sure it was because of something he was lacking, that had driven his trine mates to each other.

Starscream snarled again, his anger masking how small he suddenly felt, how his spark ached for his trine mates. He even sent a vibration along the trine bonds, hoping, praying, that one or both of them would respond in some way. Yet the blocks that had been set up for so long, worked both ways; they blocked him as much as he blocked them.

The air commander couldn't even be sure if they had even felt it. He could only hope they would have responded if they did.

Despite all his cool, calm logic, Starscream couldn't shake the feeling of hurt and anger that simmered beneath the surface. He still just couldn't get over the fact that _they left him!_ He had done so much for them and they couldn't have the decency to stay? Or at the very least comm. him and let him know they weren't dead.

Betrayal wanted to raise its ugly helm but Starscream forced it down. He knew betrayal better than anyone else and his trine had not betrayed him. That at least, he had to believe in.

Besides, Starscream knew his trine didn't betray him, couldn't have; he himself had tried to kill Megatron on a near weekly basis and the only thing that kept him alive was his ability to smooth talk his way out from any situation, and the fact that Megatron just wanted him in his berth. _That_ was betrayal.

It was something that Starscream could at least use, if he really had to. Not that he wanted to. Starscream shuttered violently at the thought; Megatron was not a good berth partner. He had never _forced_ Starscream per say, but Starscream would never say no. Not when Thundercracker and Skywarp were on the line and it made the current situation all the more bitter.

Megatron was rough in the berth, left large dents in Starscream's armor and thought it was funny to bend his wings. No, Megatron was not a wise partner to choose to berth, if he really had a choice in the matter.

Anger swelled again and Starscream slammed his fists into the metal of the table, denting it, "Slag them to the pits!"

_They left him!_

"Now Starscream," a smooth voice rang out from behind him, causing the seeker to freeze. "Is that really the way to treat my ship?"

Starscream took a deep intake of air, his mask of indifference sliding effortlessly into place. Turning to face Megatron, Starscream crossed his arms over his cockpit; in the back of his processor he knew he needed to protect his spark but it left his weakened side wide open for attack.

"And if I do recall," the air commander sneered, "you gave _me_ this laboratory, Lord Megatron."

Starscream was in no mood to deal with Megatron so he tempered his anger. Yet he couldn't stop the sarcasm from slipping.

Megatron ignored the sarcasm, stepping over the little drone that cleaned the floor. The massive grey mech easily paced the room, his blunt, careful digits skimming over the glass vials that were left unbroken; it made Starscream sick and he growled in frustration.

The grey mech turned to smirk at the seeker, blood red optics dark with insanity. "Odd Starscream, how you seem to believe that this is _your_ lab, when really, it's mine and you are merely just borrowing it."

The smirk grew into a cold, calculating grin and Starscream knew that the next remark would be cutting. "As you are nothing Starscream, you own nothing. Everything that you think you are is because I allow it. Everything you think you own is because I decree it." Starscream remained motionless, refusing to allow the words to make him flinch.

The massive commander strode to where Starscream stood and the air commander stiffened but hid the fear that pumped through his system. Fear kept him aware but not being ruled by it, kept him alive. If Megatron thought he was going to push him so easily, he had another thing coming; he was not nearly as weak as Megatron liked to think.

Starscream sneered as Megatron reached out and stroked his grey cheek with blunt thumb; the tri colored seeker refused to move his helm or show his discomfort. He would not give Megatron that much satisfaction.

Megatron smirked as he drew away, leaning a grey hip against the same table Starscream leaned on, his arms crossed. "Has your foolish trine turned up yet?"

Starscream's dark optics narrowed, turning sharp and angry but he still didn't flinch away. He refused to.

"Not yet. Thundercracker was badly damaged and I have no doubt that Skywarp is out looking for him."

Megatron's grin turned sharp and nasty, "How long has it been since the little teleporter left? Three, four Earth days? Awfully long time to be looking for his trine mate, he's even missed shifts." Megatron tilted his helm, "This means he will be punished for his actions."

Starscream's spark constricted in panic but his face portrayed nothing as the trine bonds demanded that he protect his trine, regardless of the current situation.

"Perhaps Skywarp should spend some more time in The Hole. That should remind him to make it to his shifts."

It was a jab and Starscream knew it. Megatron was testing his mental health, looking for a chink in his armour. Quickly shifting gears, Starscream sighed as though bored and not panicking, examining his clawed digits. "Is there something you want Megatron? I have actual work to do."

"Funny." Megatron carried on as though Starscream had not spoken. "How Thundercracker and Skywarp are always going off without you. Wonder why that is?"

Starscream withered inside but remained aloof and bored on the outside. "Because they are weak? How should I know?"

Megatron chuckled but continued, "I am not too familiar with seeker or flyer customs and really, I don't care. I find your courting systems far too complicated yet the one thing I always noticed, was how seekers are always in groups of three, your pathetic little trines."

Starscream still did not move; his dull and angry optics on Megatron as he continued. "Why do you think your trine, as sad as _they_ are, abandoned you?"

Garnet optics shot wide for a moment and brightened in shock and naked hurt; it was too soon, still too raw of a hurt and Megatron knew he had hit home.

The look disappeared just as quickly from Starscream's face but Megatron could see the way his slim wings twitched and shuttered. Even if his face didn't show it, Starscream was hurting far deeper than Megatron could have guessed.

Deep inside the mammoth Decepticon, something evil purred. He wanted to own Starscream, dominate the seeker. This just brought it one step closer; his trine's disappearance couldn't have come at a better time.

"Again, how should I know? My trine, as you said, is weak and pathetic." The sneer was still there but it had seemed to have lost its power.

It wasn't brittle enough for Megatron. "Odd. I wonder what you could have done to make them leave you here?"

Starscream managed to hold back the flinch through force of will alone, gritting his denta hard enough that metal shavings once again filled his mouth. He had been wondering the same thing moments before Megatron decided to verbally beat him down just a little more.

This is what he had to put up with while his trine was off doing only Primus knew what! Again, he protected them, cleaned up the blasted mess and dealt with Megatron while they got to frolic, as usual.

Hate suddenly flared like a poison within the seeker once more and in the back of his helm, he knew this is what Megatron wanted, yet he couldn't help it. He had sacrificed so much to protect Thundercracker and Skywarp and they left him behind, again.

Black, vile disgust at his trine mates' actions spread through Starscream's spark like tar, sticking to his very soul. Hate overcame the anger suddenly and any worry for the other two seekers was washed away in the mass of complete loathing for them.

They left him to suffer and they were going to pay for it.

Megatron knew he had succeeded when Starscream's wings suddenly stiffened, stressing the metal until it squealed. That seed of hate had been planted and by the time that the rest of the trine would return, Starscream would hate them. Despise them.

Then Megatron could truly claim the seeker as his own and he shivered in delight at the prospect. This was as much fun as watching Onslaught fighting with his programming and watching him writhe when he couldn't.

Starscream opened his mouth as though to say something else, his red optics dull and angry, when Soundwave crackled over the comm.

:Lord Megaton. There is Autobot activity within the same sector grid as six days ago. Suggested course of action: Investigate and prepare for hostiles.: Megatron grinned, "At least one of my commanders is competent enough to be left unattended."

The remark hardly broke through the haze of anger and Starscream ignored his commander, his optics still burning into him.

:Very good Soundwave. Gather the troops. Let's go see what has the Autobots so interested in that sector.: Megatron never took his blood red optics from Starscream's angered face, and it only made him grin all the more. "Get what seekers you have left Starscream and get them into the sky."

Turning, disregarding anything Starscream may have said; Megatron left the lab with an extra spring in his step. Starscream's angered howl followed him down the dark hall and victory had never tasted so sweet.

()()()

Thundercracker sighed as he sat at a table in the Autobot rec room. _His_ rec room, he corrected himself. It would take time to get use to that but at least he was making the effort. Around him most Autobots glared angrily at his and Skywarp's presence but he didn't care. They were not the reason he was there and they simply weren't worth his time.

They wouldn't be so stupid as to act out now, not with Prowl and Ratchet playing his guard. The surly medic had allowed Thundercracker out of the medbay three days ago and although he and Skywarp were still not allowed to wander alone, they had been given guarded and locked quarters.

Optimus Prime had kept his word and all that was left to do, was to go for Starscream; and they would, the moment Ratchet declared Thundercracker healthy enough for flight. Another day; maybe two at the most. It was a mission that had most Autobots, especially the command staff on edge. So much was riding on getting Starscream out without issue and it was taking a lot of trust from both sides for the attempt.

Worry ate at Thundercracker and it caused his tanks to churn and knot. Something was wrong with Starscream, very wrong. The trine bonds felt wrong, poisoned almost and it had Thundercracker on edge. He had asked, was near begging Ratchet to clear him so that they could do for Starscream now. Ratchet however, wasn't budging on his stance. The whole mission would fail if Thundercracker fell from the sky before he even got back to the _Nemesis_ , simply because he didn't let his body have enough time to heal.

It did little to calm his frayed nerves.

Skywarp was no help either, being too young and too inexperienced to feel the slight difference in the bonds when something was wrong with Starscream. Thundercracker couldn't even bump into something without Skywarp knowing about it, but Starscream, Skywarp could never get a read on Starscream like he could, hadn't grown up with Starscream as Thundercracker had. He couldn't feel that something was very wrong with their trine leader.

Not wanting to worry his mate more than he already was, Thundercracker kept such thoughts of worry to himself. Besides, they'd be going for Starscream soon enough, no point in distressing Skywarp right now. Glancing sideways Thundercracker saw his purple mate sitting beside him, his helm bowed low talking with Sideswipe. The pair were grinning and snickering and Thundercracker was _sure_ he heard something about magnets and Cliffjumper, but he couldn't be completely sure.

Thundercracker also wasn't sure how they had become friends, but they had and they were all going to suffer the consequences of that alliance. The blue seeker knew he should get his mate away from the front liner as nothing good would come from that friendship. Skywarp currently had the bond carefully narrowed, blocking whatever they were up to.

Yet, this had been the first time in days that Skywarp had smiled. His recharges were filled with nightmares of Starscream's torture and his day-cycles spent worrying. He may not have been able to sense something was wrong like Thundercracker could, but he had seen first servo what had happen to their trine leader.

Skywarp may have been oblivious to the trine bonds but he did care about Starscream and wanted to see him safe as much as Thundercracker did.

A spark of shame and guilt washed over Thundercracker for a moment; he hadn't meant to leave Starscream behind. It always just sort of happened. Sighing, Thundercracker pulled himself from his moment of regret, shutting away his guilt and worry to focus on the here and now.

Callie and Danny had requested to return to their garage to collect the last of their possessions and Thundercracker hated the idea. His little human was going back to L.A, although only for a short time, without him.

Truthfully, Thundercracker didn't like the idea of sending Callie off without him but until Ratchet cleared him for his mission back to the _Nemesis,_ he was restricted to the base. In part, the Autobot's didn't trust him yet and at the same time, if he was seen in the presence of Autobots before they retrieved Starscream, nothing good would come of that.

Sighing again, Thundercracker dropped his helm into his servo and watched Skywarp and Sideswipe whisper back and forth. Sunstreaker sat beside his brother, looking bored and annoyed, sipping on his cube of energon.

"TC, stop sulking." Skywarp's annoyed voice suddenly rang out, drawing the blue seeker's attention.

Frowning, Thundercracker canted his helm in confusion. "I'm not sulking." He dead panned.

Sideswiped leaned over the table with a smirk. "Yeah ya are. You're all worried about your little human going back out into the big bad world without you."

Thundercracker's confusion melted into annoyance and his growl made Sunstreaker's cold blue optics shoot to the seekers, glowering in his cold, dead sort of way.

Sideswipe ignored both his brother and the older seeker and laughed. "Oh stop worrying about it. Skyfire is going to take us back to L.A. Hound, and Mirage have already cleared the area on the way to the garage and the garage itself. And if that weren't enough, Ironhide and myself are going to take the girls to the garage. They'll be perfectly fine."

Thundercracker sighed, sounding bored he asked, "And your twin will not be accompanying you?"

Sunstreaker snarled, his armor flattening to his frame in indignation. "I'm not a baby sitter."

Grinning like a loon, Sideswipe punched his brother's shoulder. "Naw, Sunny doesn't like Danny so he's going to be staying here."

"But everything is going to be okay with just you?" The older seeker asked in spite of the grinning faces of Sideswipe and Skywarp.

"Everything will be fine. This is an easy mission and it'll be like we were never gone." The crimson front liner boasted.

The seeker sighed, musing that if everything would be fine, then why he had such a bad, tank churning feeling.

()()()

**TBC...  
**


	16. The Beginning of the End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All hell brakes loose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Important Information
> 
> "Blah" Speaking
> 
> ::Blah:: comm. link
> 
> 'Blah'bonded speech
> 
> 'Blah' thinking
> 
> Astrosecond- 2.5 earth Seconds
> 
> Klik- 150 earth seconds/ 2.5 earth Minutes
> 
> Orn- 150 earth minutes/ 2.5 earth Hours
> 
> Joor- 60 earth hours/2.5 earth Days
> 
> Metacycle- 17.5 earth days/2.5 earth Weeks
> 
> Vorn- 10 earth weeks/2.5 earth months
> 
> Stellercycle-30 earth months/2.5 years
> 
> Breem-slang for a moment/minute.
> 
> Night Cycle: star down to star up
> 
> Day Cycle: Star up to star down
> 
> Authors Note: Alright guys, update time. I'm sorry that it took so long to get this update done, but here's the thing. This was supposed to be the last chapter to this story, but when it hit 30k in the word count, I knew I was going to have to split it in half. The second half is still being beta'd, but should be up soon.
> 
> So enjoy the beginning of the end.
> 
> Thank you to my fabulous beta, DarkestRising10, who did an awesome sauce job on this monster chapter. It's perfect!
> 
> Disclaimer: I own only my OC's, nothing else.

Thundercracker knew something was going to go wrong the moment Callie left the safety of the base. She and Danny had come to collect Sideswipe and to assure the seeker that everything was going to be okay. They would head out to the garage for the remainder of their things and return before night fall, and everything would be fine.

Lucy had been left behind while her cousins and sister went to get the rest of their things. The little blonde had been put out for a total of ten seconds before she realised that she and Anna would have the seekers all to themselves for the entire afternoon.

Lucy had instantly perked up after that, running off without even saying good bye to her sister to find Anna. Ironhide had been less than thrilled at the fact that Anna would be playing with the seekers in his absence, but unless her father said otherwise, his red servos were tied.

Another thing that Thundercracker was unhappy about was the number of Autobots accompanying his human. Sideswipe, Ironhide, Mirage and Hound would be with the girls and that was it. Four Autobots would be more than enough to protect his human if other _humans_ attacked, but this was the second time a group of Autobots would be in L.A.

Such a trend would attract Soundwave's attention, and if the Decepticons attacked, four Autobots would not be nearly enough to protect Callie in a fire fight.

Worried, Thundercracker had brought this fact to Prime and Prowl. The commanders had considered, truly considered the seekers words (something that the sub commander had not experienced since the early days of the war), and put the base on high alert.

All units, even the humans, were to be ready to be deployed on Optimus Prime's word, all because he had brought a legitimate concern to his new leader. The seeker was very relieved that he had the moment bright red lights flared into life, sirens wailing.

Code Red was activated and as Prowl led the seekers to the brig, until the issue could be sorted, Red Alert's voice called over Teletraan-1, informing them all that Megatron was attacking the city of Los Angeles, for seemingly no reason other than because the Autobots were there.

Prowl offered a quiet, quick apology before hurrying off to aid in leading the charge against the attacking Decepticons. Trapped within the Autobot brig, with a worried Skywarp for company, Thundercracker's tanks knotted and churned.

Callie and her family were out there in the middle of that battle field. Starscream would be out there too, on the opposite side, trying to kill the humans he'd come to love as family and there wasn't a damn thing he could do to stop it.

Thundercracker wanted to purge his tanks.

()()()

Bright sunlight shone from the afternoon sun, the warm air blowing around Sideswipe's heated plating. The frontliner sat on his aft, knees up and elbows propped on the bent limbs; his heavy helm being held up by his black servos. It was such a nice, sunny day. A wonderful day to go for a long drive on the high way, a near perfect day…

"Danny, we can't take the frelling Shelby with us!"

…if only the humans would stop arguing.

Sideswipe sighed as the girls circled back to the beginning of the same argument they had been having for the past hour. Danny wanted to bring the broken down Shelby with them, Callie said it was too much hassle, and neither was willing to back down.

"Is frelling even a real word!?" Danny snapped, the damaged, bullet ridden Shelby behind her. "Or is that a Thundercracker word?"

Callie's blue eyes rolled. "Don't change the subject. We can't bring the Shelby with us right now."

Ironhide sighed from where he also sat on the ground, his back to the building with Hound by his side. Beside Hound, Mirage stood with his arms crossed over his chest, seemingly too good to sit on the ground with the other grunts.

"Why not? We'll just get a flat bed, we know enough people out here to rent one."

"Yes Danny, and then you can explain why we're loading the Shelby into a _SPACE SHUTTLE_! That'll go over real well!" Callie snapped. Behind her Mia loaded another bag into Callie's black truck, ignoring her sister's and cousin's argument.

"Then we'll borrow one." Danny sighed, shifting her body weight on one hip. "We can get it back before night fall."

"Right, and when they ask where the Lambo came from?" Callie dead panned, knowing that Sideswipe would join her on her quest for a flat bed.

"A friend gave me a ride." Danny shrugged with a leer. "That isn't entirely untrue."

Callie sighed again. "And where are we going to store…"

"Oh _enough_." Mirage suddenly snapped, sounding irritated and tired. "We can store it somewhere on base. Do you have any tow cables?"

It had been the first time Mirage had decided to grace the humans with his attention, and it shocked them enough to listen to what he had to say. "I hardly have the time to stand around and listen to you bicker like children. I resent the fact I am on _babysitting_ duty with you brats." His words were cold, hard and scathing, well chosen from a noble.

"Mirage." Hound tried to calm his usually silent partner, but the Towers mech was having none of it.

"This is a ridiculous mission and an insult to mechs of our calibre. The only reason we are here is because the foolish fears of a Decepticon seeker. So let us just end this farce of a mission already. Have Ironhide tow your pathetic _Shelby_ to Skyfire so we may just leave already."

Ironhide, Sideswipe and Hound tensed, waiting for the explosion of anger from the humans. Mirage half expected it too, his posturing screaming that he did; he straightened up, his armour tightened to his body with his shoulder tires stiff and high.

He was ready for a verbal battle, one he was sure he would win.

Callie and Danny however blinked up at him as Liz carried the last of her computer equipment to Callie's truck. "Okay, that's not a bad idea." Danny shrugged with a grin.

Callie heaved a sigh of irritation. "Fine. Go get the damn tow cables."

Everyone but Ironhide sighed in relief.

"Wha'dya mean _Ironhide can tow the pathetic Shelby_?" The red Autobot snapped.

Mirage sighed and rolled his blue optics in aggravation; he just wanted to go back to base. Hound stood, placing a gentle servo to a blue shoulder plate, giving a squeeze of comfort. The spy master cast his still very new mate an angry glance, pushing minutely into the touch.

The tracker offered the special ops mech a soft smile before removing his servo. Turning his attention to Ironhide, the green mech offered a beaming grin. "Come on Ironhide, if you tow the car, we can get home sooner."

"And not blow cover." Mia sang as she and Aleyah carried the last few bags from the building, coming to stand beside Liz.

"And…" Danny chimed in with a smirk. "I won't torment the hell out of you if you just help us."

"Girl's gotta point there 'Hide." Sideswipe smirked from his position on the ground. "And Danny has that special knack of being _really_ annoying." The human femme smirked and nodded in agreement.

The big red Autobot looked from Mirage's annoyed face to Sideswipe's amused one then back to Danny's smug one. Venting in annoyance, Ironhide stood, stretching out old joints and struts. "Get yer blasted tow cables and let's just get back to base already."

Ironhide's answer made Danny grin and clap her hands in excitement, while Callie rolled her blue eyes before looking back at Ironhide. "Lennox wants us to clear the building of our weapons and bring them back to base with us. It's the last thing we have to get then we can leave."

Ironhide nodded as Sideswipe stood to stretch. "Get the last of the gear then we'll get outta here."

"There's the team spir…do you hear that?" Sideswipe asked, his voice suddenly turning serious.

Everyone froze for a moment, listening as the air seemed to still around them, an unnatural silence surrounded them; almost as though the city itself fell quiet in a way that only occurred during a disaster. Yet the soft hum of planes could be heard in the distance; too high, too powerful to be that of human technology.

"That sounds like seeker engines." Sideswipe commented; his voice unnaturally soft as he pulled his blaster from sub space.

"Oh no." Hound managed to whisper, just before all hell broke loose.

Twin heat seeking missiles slammed into Sideswipe's chest, knocking the frontliner off his pedes and flat on his back; energon blood sprayed out from both the wound and his mouth as he smashed into the pavement with a powerful crash.

Mia's scream pierced through the silence before noise crashed around them, the attack roaring to life. Gun fire went off as Ironhide, Mirage and Hound pulled weapons from their subspaces, returning fire on the seekers who circled overhead like sharks drawn to blood. Danny dove behind the damaged Shelby while the others dropped behind Callie's truck as laser fire was exchanged in rapid secession.

"SIDES!" Danny screamed as she tried to army crawl to the writhing frontliner; Ironhide barking orders to the others still standing. Sideswipe's black servos pressing to the hole in his chest as energon leaked between his digits, his vents hitching and catching as his life fluid filled his air intakes, his energon blood bubbling at the corners of his mouth.

"Sideswipe!" Danny cried out again as she reached the downed Autobot and his crackling intakes. "Let me see it." She ordered.

Wincing as Ironhide reloaded his weapon, screaming for Hound to cover the right, the green Autobot did as he was told, shooting into the sky at the circling coneheads. The tracker may not have liked fighting, but he was not going to let his new friend Liz, his mate or his allies down simply because he didn't like to hurt others.

After all, the seeker coneheads would have no qualms in hurting any of them.

"I'm fine." The frontliner grunted as he tried to sit up, moving his servos for Danny to see the mess of broken energon lines, dented metal and sparking wires.

Explosions rocked the city, police sirens wailed in the distance and screams of civilians floated in the air. It was all lost to the humans caught in the middle of it as Ironhide called in for backup. The noise grew so loud, crashing and grating on each other until you could no longer tell where one noise ended and the other began.

Amidst it all, Callie crouched behind her black truck, hiding with Liz, Mia and Aleyah. The dark haired girl glanced back at her blonde cousin. "I don't like not having a gun in the middle of a god damned fight Callie." She snarled, anger hiding the deep fear at being helpless in the chaos around her.

The blonde ignored her cousin, barking an order as more laser fire rained down on them. "Stay here!" Callie then shot up, darting over to Sideswipe and Danny.

Her cousins called her name, called for her to come back but she ignored them as she ran for her cousin and the Autobot, struggling to stay upright as the ground shook beneath her. The blonde dove to her cousin's side, skidding along the concrete to a stop beside her, ripping up her jeans and tearing her knees. "We need to close the energon lines!" She barked. "Go to the garage and get some clamps!"

"I'm on i…" Blue laser sliced through the air, slamming into the garage with a sickening _boom_ , causing the back of the building to blow out and fire to rip through the wooden beams of the building. The shockwave threw the humans off their feet, onto the concrete; dust filled the air and heat burned at their backs.

As Danny pushed herself to her elbows and knees, she looked at her burning garage with dread on her face. As loud as she could, she screamed out "THE AMMO STORES!"

Callie felt horror fill her as she turned to the black truck where her cousins hid. "MIRAGE! THE GIRLS!" she screamed as loud as she could, her voice cracking as smoke clogged her throat.

Mirage had no idea of the impending doom that was about to hit, but he could hear the panic in Callie's voice. The slim blue and white Autobot threw himself to the ground, using his body as a shield to protect Liz, Aleyah and Mia.

Sideswipe suddenly rolled over Callie and Danny, being very careful not to crush them or get the burning hot energon over them, putting his own body between the flames and the girls; another kind of explosion went off from inside the garage as their ammo store suddenly exploded; different calibre bullets suddenly shooting off in every direction, pinging off Cybertronian armor, the concrete ground and stone walls.

The high pitched pinging and popping only added to the noise of the battle as Ironhide screamed for Hound to get down.

Once the last bullet shot off, Mirage jumped to his pedes once more, ignoring Liz calling out a thank you, to help Ironhide hold the line.

Sideswipe managed to get to an elbow, giving Callie and Danny a lopsided grin; energon blood still leaking from the corner of his mouth. "Don't worry, helps coming." He managed weakly as bright pink energon oozed heavily from the wound and the corner of his mouth.

Panting, Callie caught Danny's brown eyes. "If we can stop the bleeding, Sides will have a better chance of survival."

Danny nodded, forcing her shaking hands to firm up. Now was not the time to panic, it was time to act. "There's another garage, not too far from here." A rival, ironically, that Danny now hoped was not destroyed in the battle. "We can steal some clamps from them."

Glancing up at the weakening frontliner, Callie nodded. "Figures we'd have to go back to stealing."

Danny snorted as she watched Sideswipe's blue optics flicker to white with distress and pain. "Can't get any worse, right?"

A heavy thunk from behind proved Danny wrong; it had the girls flinching and jumping to their feet. Spinning around, they were met with a pair of dark blue pedes.

Painfully slow, they looked up, catching the dark red optics of the dark blue seeker with a pointed helm. "Hello." He grinned, shoulder canon pointed at them, humming with power. The nasty grin that cut a path across the seeker's face said everything about his intentions, and it would be nothing good for the humans.

Suddenly Callie understood why so many Autobots feared Thundercracker; this seeker looked so cold, so nasty and willing to hurt. But the blonde could not bring herself to equate her protector with the beast before her; they may have been of the same caste, but Thundercracker was _not_ like this. She refused to believe it.

"Oh shit." Danny muttered, backing towards the injured frontliner, to safety.

"Hey Dirge." The seeker looked away from the frightened girls to the injured frontliner, and his blaster. "Should never take your optics off me."

Sideswipe pulled the trigger and didn't stop until it ran dry; yellow laser fire bursting from the barrel of the weapon and slamming into Dirge's chest again and again, leaving a smoking hole in his chest plates. The seeker's optics darkened as he fell to the ground, out but not dead.

Sideswipe fell back to his side with a wince, his vents hissing, wheezing and crackling. "Even injured I'll still kick your aft."

::We need air support! Where are ya Skyfire!:: Ironhide's voice crackled over the comms.

Sideswipe, dazed, curled an arm around the two girls in an attempt to protect them as more laser fire rained down. "It's gonna be okay. Helps coming."

Danny and Callie frowned at each other, both ignoring their panic in favor of fretting over the frontliner. Sideswipe was starting to slur his words as the fire behind him burned; ash filled the air like snow.

Skyfire roared overhead, drawing the attention of Thrust and Ramjet away from the ground mechs, for a moment at the very least. Having a moment to breath, Ironhide rushed over to Sideswipe, rolling the frontliner to his back, away from the humans the crimson mech had been desperate to protect, in order to inspect the wound. "Yer gonna be okay kid. Hang in thur."

Hound checked over the other girls while Mirage kept an optic on the sky, waiting for the moment the seekers came back. Their armour was dented and damaged, covered with soot, but with the exception of Sideswipe, no one was seriously hurt. It was a miracle in itself that no one was dead, no life force flickering out.

Dirge twitched as his trine mates chased and fired at Skyfire, still not getting up after taking a direct hit from Sideswipe. Having no choice, Callie had to trust that Hound and Mirage would protect her younger cousins while Ironhide tried to stop the bleeding from Sideswipe's chest.

"Ironhide can I help?" Danny asked; her eyes on the wound in Sideswipe's chest.

"Not unless ya got something to cover yer skin. Just stay back fer now." Ironhide said firmly, closing more leaking lines. The red Autobot opened his mouth to say something else when Skyfire's panicked voice crackled over the comm.

::'Hide! I'm...own. Sh...: :

Skyfire's voice cut off suddenly, causing the mech's freeze. Overhead Skyfire roared by, black smoke trailing from his underbelly as he fell, nose first to the earth.

The group watched the shuttle plummet from the sky, falling behind the tall buildings of L.A and impacting into the Earth with a great _boom_. Flames, smoke and dirt filling the air.

"Oh god." Mia whispered as black smoke plumed into the sky from where Skyfire went down. "We...we need to go find him." The girl said desperately, her bright green eyes watering; she had lost enough friends in her own foolish gang wars, there was no need to lose more.

Ironhide took control of the situation. "Get over here now, the lot of ya!"

The three other girls hesitated in fear before they raced to Ironhide, followed by Mirage and Hound; the two Autobots were black from being hit from laser fire, bullet holes and dents marring their armor. Once the small group huddled around him, Ironhide took charge.

"We can't all go tramping after Skyfire. Not wit' Sides so hurt and you humans."

The girls voices raised in protest but the red truck raised a servo to silence them. "Yer not trained for this kinda thing. Yer're more likely ta get in our way than be of any use." The girls frowned but didn't protest. Ironhide continued as he closed more lines in Sideswipe's chest. "I'm gonna take Sideswipe ta the outside of da city, and you humans are going ta come with me."

He turned to Mirage and Hound. "Ah want you two ta scout out where Skyfire went down. Soundwave hasn't blocked da comm. lines yet, so da moment ya find him, radio it in." He looked at Mia's teary face. "Okay?"

Mia nodded as she wiped the tears away; she looked up to attempt a smile but a look of horror filled the human femme's face and her bright green eyes shone in newfound fear.

A barrel of a weapon prodded into the back of Ironhide's helm and Thrust's cold, angry voice snarled. "Your lot is gonna pay for what you did to Dirge."

No one moved, no one dared take a breath, as Ramjet landed behind them, boxing the Autobots and the vulnerable humans in; Mirage moved in front of Hound, weapon still in servo, face set and unemotional as he focused on the seeker.

"Awe slag." Ironhide grumbled, putting his servos into the air in surrender.

As fear, real, cold blooded fear shot through her, Callie desperately wished that Thundercracker was with her.

()()()

Skywarp sighed as he watched Thundercracker do what seemed like his hundredth lap around the small brig cell they had been crammed into. Really, a single cell was far too cramped for two seekers to be in together, what with the wings and all.

Yet, after having spent so long apart, Skywarp wouldn't have it any other way. He was just glad to be near his sweet wings, to be in the same proximity, to feel his EM field wash over his own when he walked into range. If only he'd calm down, maybe they could have some fun while waiting for the Autobots to return from Los Angeles.

The blue seeker sighed as he stopped by the entrance; he pressed his forearms against the blue field barrier. Paint fizzled and hissed as it peeled from his arms and the stinging, almost burning pain felt good. It gave Thundercracker something else to focus on other than his mind numbing worry.

Skywarp sighed and crossed the cell to his mate. Grabbing Thundercracker by the shoulder vent, Skywarp pulled him away from the barrier. "Don't do that!" The purple seeker snapped. "Ratchet will be angry at you and make you stay longer."

Thundercracker huffed in annoyance, his wings flicking back and forth. Glaring at the floor, he let himself be led back to the berth and Skywarp forced him to sit down. Sitting on the other side of the older seeker, Skywarp crossed his legs and he dragged both of Thundercracker's arms into his lap, inspecting the black burns along the bottom of the anxious seeker's arms.

"Shouldn't have done that." Skywarp mumbled as he brushed the injury with the tips of his black digits.

Pain shot up Thundercracker's arms, but he said nothing and fought back the flinch as he bowed his helm. "Sorry."

Skywarp frowned, fidgeting as he wrapped his servos around the other Decepticon's black wrists. "You're afraid for Callie?"

"And Starscream." Thundercracker admitted with a sigh, trying not to sound as miserable as he felt. "What if he kills her? Or what if he dies out there?"

The purple seeker looked down as he ran his thumb along the inside of Thundercracker's wrists. "'Screamer's tough. He'll be okay. And...and Callie's smart, she'll keep her head down."

The blue hued F-15 huffed, pressing his arms harder into Skywarp's legs, looking for any amount of comfort. Something real, something that he could cling to as emotions churned inside of him. "Callie _is_ smart and resourceful. And I doubt that Danny would let anything happen to her, but they're both soft and easily killed."

Crimson optics flicked up while the black helm stayed down. "They have no armour to protect themselves."

Skywarp squirmed as he started to gently massage his mate's wrists. "But Sideswipe and Ironhide are with them, they're pretty armoured."

The older Decepticon snorted and dropped his crimson optics back down. "They're both painted bright red and are loud. They're practically moving targets and they're supposed to protect Callie?" The seeker snorted, curling his fingers. "I doubt it Sky."

The purple seeker pouted as he looked down at his digits around Thundercracker's wrist. "Well. Starscream at least is armoured. He's going to be okay until we get to him."

Depression and worry welled once more within the blue seeker and he tried so hard to beat it down. They were so close to winning, so close to their end game. They had a solid plan of attack, a good idea of how to go about getting Starscream back and had a safe place to bring him.

"And if he dies out on the battle field, alone and hurting?" Thundercracker glanced up the same time Skywarp did, their optics catching. "You know what Megatron did to him. You know what is going through his mind right now."

Skywarp squirmed but didn't lose his mate's optics. "You…you don't think he thinks we've left him, do you?"

Thundercracker's wings drooped even lower on his back. "Starscream has always felt left out by us." Skywarp opened his mouth to respond, his brow pulled down angrily, but his mate beat him to the punch. "And it's not your fault. Or mine. We couldn't help how we feel about each other, but..." Another sigh left the careful seeker. "But Starscream has felt left out because of it."

Skywarp's mouth snapped shut and he frowned. Now understanding his mate's worry, the purple seeker poked along the spark bond and could feel just how _deeply_ Thundercracker worried. How much love he had for Starscream, brotherly love, and his regret for not telling Starscream more in fear of being found out by Megatron.

Squeezing Thundercracker's servos tightly, optics hardening, Skywarp steeled himself. The older Seeker could see, could literally pin point the very moment when his fun loving, gentle, youngling-like mate melted back into the deadly, cold-sparked killer the Autobots saw on the battle field.

It was a palatal change, one that could be felt through the bonds as well; the spark bond narrowing dramatically, growing cold and hard as who Skywarp really was, went dormant and the killer inside came out.

The trine bonds widened, preparing for battle and would allow each of the seekers to know where their wing mate was at all time.

"Then let's go get them." Skywarp said coldly, all joy and life gone from his ruby optics, leaving cold chips of ice.

Thundercracker felt his optics widen in shock. "What?"

"I said let's go get them. The Autobots can't be trusted to care for our humans, let's go get them. And we'll drag Starscream back to the _Ark_ if we have to, we'll get him too."

Thundercracker snorted, determined to be the voice of reason. "And what? Drag his aft off the battle field and against his will to the _Ark_?"

"If we have to." There was a distinct difference between his fun loving mate and his killer mate. Right now, Thundercracker knew he was talking to his killer mate, with his human and wing leader's lives on the line. Now, Skywarp was focused on getting them back.

The blue seeker gave his mate a shrewd look as Skywarp continued. "Our plans will mean nothing if Starscream dies out on the battle field, or if Callie does. They're both out there now, let's go get them both, right now."

Thundercracker felt himself slip into the madness of battle; felt his spark grow cold and his side of the spark bond narrow. He felt who he was, what was left of _him_ slip beneath the shield of ice, to protect himself for what he about to do. What he had to do to protect what was most important; the girl who had imprinted herself on him, his wing mate, his Prime and his mate.

Thundercracker buried everything that was him, everything that was soft, deeper into the layer of ice in his spark. He knew his human and his mate would thaw it later. It was the fact that he knew he had others that cared enough to bring _him_ back made it easier to submerge into the coldness.

They weren't like Megatron, who only cared for the seeker's ability in battle, Callie, Skywarp and even Starscream liked him, for him. Loved him, for him. They would thaw his spark once more; they gave him a reason to want to come back.

Suddenly, Thundercracker felt cold inside, dead. His warm crimson optics hardened and glazed over, and for the first time in weeks, he felt like the deadly warrior he knew he was. Voice clipped and cold, Thundercracker let his servos slip from Skywarp's. "You know what we are going to have to do."

A cold, bitter, twisted smile crossed Skywarp's mouth. "We'll have to stand with the Autobots."

Thundercracker nodded as this mate continued. "And we'll get to take a shot at Megatron."

There was no fear of their old leader in Skywarp's voice, not this time, not when he rode the killing edge so keenly. "And maybe if we're lucky, we'll fucking kill him this time."

The same bitter smile spread across Thundercracker's face. "And do what Prime was too weak to do." He snarled.

Thundercracker lunged forward, grabbing at his mate's helm, pulling him hard into a brutal kiss; it was all teeth and claws, hard and demanding. If they had been in their right frame of mind, the seekers would have found the kiss bitter and wrong. The violence to come would have tasted like a poison on their lips but right now, it tasted like the sweetest of high grade. The promise of what was going to come.

When Thundercracker jerked away, his grip on Skywarp's helm tightened and walking the line between pain and pleasure, the purple seeker gasped and arched into the touch with relish. Deep down, the teleporter knew that his mate would never hurt him, even in the state they were in.

"Get us out of here." Came the cold order.

Skywarp's crooked grin spread. "Let's go get what's ours."

Anyone listening into the conversation would have known that neither seeker was in their right frame of mind, would have said a little prayer for whoever they were after. Would have thought, Primus have mercy on whosever soul was doomed to cross their path, because they wouldn't.

There was no one to say a small prayer as bright purple light filled the Autobot bring and Skywarp teleported the battle crazed seekers to Los Angeles.

()()()

Starscream crouched on one of the tallest building of the city they were attacking; his dark helm dropped into his dull blue servos as he watched the chaos below with bored disinterest. He didn't know why they were bothering to attack the city, they weren't actually after anything. It was a waste of energon and time.

They were only there because the Autobots were there, no reason really other than to show the Autobots that they were still a factor to be contended with.

Starscream was bored with it all; he felt dead inside, cold. Numb in a way that had nothing to do with battle. His trine was gone, had left him; abandoned him. What was the point of it all now?

Depression and despair filled him as he watched the pathetic humans fleeing their burning city. Optimus and his Autobots would be there soon. But so what? They would fight, Megatron would call their retreat and before long, it would start all over again.

Same thing, just a different day and it grated on Starscream as much as his emotional breakdown just a little while ago had. He would rather still be on the _Nemesis_ trying to figure out a way to create clean energy that would lead to the creation of energon. Stealing it was only getting them so far and his tanks hadn't been full in months.

A dead feeling welled within Starscream and he wondered if this is what Deadend felt, day in, day out. He simply didn't like it, he was better than this, stronger than this. He was a fighter, always had been, had clawed his way to the top and dragged his trine with him.

If his trine had left him, fine. So be it. He had survived the fall of Vos and he could survive the fall of his trine. Starscream's spark felt like it curdled, souring in his chest as the poisonous hate spread.

Then bright purple light flashed, like a beacon, over the battle field and Starscream felt hope flair in his chest; a cure to the sickness that hid beneath his red chest plates. His dark helm snapped towards the light and his crimson optics brightened for the first time in days. A sloppy grin spread over the trine leader's face as he stood to his full height; shoulders moved to a higher position and his wings shot high behind him.

There they were, hovering above the city like a pair of archangels hunting for vengeance; Thundercracker, bright, healthy dark blue and Skywarp, vibrant purple. They floated easily together, acting like magnets drawing to each other before pushing away, riding the gentle warm winds as they examined the battle field.

' _Looking for me, no doubt.'_ Starscream thought to himself, his sloppy smile spreading into a cocky grin as true happiness returned to his spark. His trine had come home; they had come back for him and had not abandoned him. Everything would return to normal, the return of happiness was a blessing.

The trine leader rubbed at the rusted patch at his side, but even that couldn't douse the fierce joy that spread through his spark. He was about to open a line to his trine, almost alerted them to his presence when the strangest thing happened.

The happy smirk fell from Starscream's dark lips as Thundercracker pointed down to the smoking, bloody mess that had become Skyfire. The trine leader watched as his two trine mates discussed something, before Skywarp disappeared in a flash of purple light.

Frowning, Thundercracker continued to scan the battle field, his face tilted down, searching for something on the ground and he stiffened when he found what he was looking for. Starscream canted his helm in confusion as dread filled his spark; what in the Pit could his trine mate be looking at?

It wasn't him, Starscream realised as the sick feeling of being forgotten replaced the overwhelming joy from just a moment ago. Megatron couldn't be right, he just couldn't be.

Skywarp returned moments later, talking rapidly as he pointed to where Skyfire went down, then again somewhat further away. Thundercracker nodded, his cold red optics still focusing on...something.

Starscream watched with growing concern as Thundercracker suddenly pointed out whatever had captured his attention and Skywarp's lean frame stiffened as well. Another bout of rapid speaking occurred and Starscream felt his dull blue servos clench into fists; they truly were not there for him.

Skywarp suddenly disappeared for a second time in a ball of purple light as Thundercracker eased himself to the earth, going after whatever he found to be more important than his wing leader.

Curious, Starscream flew to hover where his trine mate had been just moments prior, the air around him still warm from their thrusters. He really didn't want to know what could be more important to his trine mates than him, deep down he really didn't want to; but he had to see.

Starscream watched the scene play out below him and shock ripped through his already stressed systems. Shock turned to dismay as a deep, deep _hurt_ spread through Starscream and it left the trine leader floundering. How could they choose humans over him?

Dismay finally turned to rage and it spread like wild fire, through his spark and mind; blood rage ripped through the seeker and he swore he could taste energon blood on his glossa. He didn't know what he hated more; the fact that Megatron was right or the fact is trine had abandoned him.

Hatred twined with rage and Starscream swore his trine would pay for this. Pay dearly in fact. He'd kill his traitorous trine and their Primus damned human pets, right along with the Autobots. He'd shed the last of his weakness with that, and Megatron would never again hurt him with this.

The tri-colored seeker didn't see Megatron's smirking face as the titan Decepticon grinned from behind, floating on the warm wind, while chaos ripped LA apart below.

()()()

Mia hid behind Danny, her small pale hands going white as a fresh sheet as she clung to her older sister; Callie too seemed to be frozen in fear as they stared up at the big, rust colored seeker with cruel red optics.

The curvy female managed to tear her frightened green eyes from the seeker to glance around, hoping, praying that maybe someone had a plan; Aleyah and Liz pressed to her body as they huddled behind Callie, both girls shaking as the knowledge that they may die here, settled in.

Swallowing hard, curls bouncing around her head, Mia looked at the Autobots and nearly burst into tears when she realised they fared no better; Ironhide dared not move with the humans so close in fear of starting a close range fire fight that would get everyone killed, Sideswipe's blue optics were flickering in distress as more energon bled out form his damaged frame and Mirage was having a staring contest with the white conehead, whist using his own body as a shield to protect Hound.

No doubt, if given half the chance, Mirage would choose the life of his lover over the lives of the humans they tried to protect, but Mia tried not to think about that. She didn't want to think about how she would die here, shot down like a dog in the street.

Fresh tears filled her pretty green eyes as she fought them, blinking as hard and fast as she could but it was to no avail. After all she and her family had gone through, all the fights with other crews, the scraping by, the lying, the cheating, the stealing, after all they had survived, this was how it would end.

It wasn't fair. They finally had a chance to do something good and now they were going to die where they stood. Green eyes caught brown as Mia and Danny's eyes locked, and Mia knew then and there that Danny was prepared to die. She was expecting it and could see no way out other than death.

Mia took a shaking breath to steady herself and released her death grip on her sister's arm; if they were to die here, she would at least stand tall before they took the shot but the girl's bravado did nothing to stop the shaking of her hands, or the tremble in her body.

Calmly, Ironhide looked over his shoulder to a very angry Thrust. "Let the humans go. They've noth'en ta to wit' our fight."

Thrust sneered at the suggestion, a malicious grin spreading across his face plates and once more, Callie couldn't equate her fierce protector with this monster. "Don't think so Ironhide. I want to see them scream."

The red Autobot growled, servos twitching above his helm, as though he longed to take the seeker's helm from his shoulders. Mia hoped with all she had that Danny, her big mouthed sister, kept her mouth shut.

' _Please...Ooh Please!OhPlease!OhPlease!_ ' the green eyed girl thought as she watched her older sister tense. Maybe they'd get lucky and Danny would say nothing.

"You can't _watch_ someone scream stupid, you _listen_ to them scream." Came her sneering voice before anyone, including herself, could stop her.

Horrified, Mia turned her head to stare in open mouthed shock at her sister the same time Callie did; but despite the shaking that bombarded her small body, Danny stood tall, shoulders back.

Thrust tore his red optics from the back of Ironhide's helm to glare hotly at the human that was small enough for him to step on. "I'm not stupid."

Danny refused to look at any of the others but she could feel her sisters and cousin's terrified looks, and Ironhide practically willed her to shut up; but if Danny could keep these new seekers distracted long enough, help would come eventually. Sideswipe had promised that help was coming; they just needed to keep these Decepticons busy enough for that help to arrive.

"Yes you are." Danny sneered back, crossing her arms to hide the shaking of her hands, clinging to her own elbows. She may die there, but at least her family would have half a chance.

Ramjet gave his trine mate a confused glance, not taking his optics from Mirage for very long. "Just shut the little runt up already."

Smirking, Thrust moved his shoulder blaster from the back of Ironhide's helm to point, point blank, at Danny. "You die first." He sneered as Ironhide's cry of no went unnoticed.

Everyone tensed, waiting for the inevitable flash of light and heat to end the human femme called Danny, knowing that they were all too far or too weak to protect the big mouthed human. Brown eyes jammed shut and her body tensed, waiting for the heat to come, waiting for the black of nothing to come.

The weapon powered on, humming with deadly energy and heat, when a cold, calm, painfully _familiar_ voice stopped the conehead from vaporizing the human. "That is enough Thrust. Save your ammo for the real threat."

Thundercracker landed as gracefully as a swan landing in a pond, his turbines cutting out with a soft _swoosh_ as he touched down. He straightened and moved with the same elegant grace of a predator stalking its prey as he swayed to where Thrust stood.

The first feeling Callie had was overwhelming relief at seeing her protector, he at least could deal with the flyers. Yet, as Thundercracker came to stand stock still beside a very confused Thrust, Callie could feel unease and dread rise from the pit of her stomach, like bile burning at her throat.

His posture was off; stiff and armour puffed out, wings high to look larger, more aggressive. His crimson optics, that were always so warm when they looked at Callie, were cold and clipped as they slipped over and past the girl, as though she didn't matter while he surveyed the scene.

Thrust glared at his sub commander through the corner of narrowed optics, the weapon slipping to point at the ground. "Thought you were dead Thundercracker."

The dark blue seeker made a noncommittal noise as Ironhide snarled at him over a red shoulder plate. Thundercracker ignored the befoul glare from the red Autobot, his cold, crimson optics lingering on Sideswipe's damage before glancing at Ramjet.

Callie shuddered and took a step back, bumping into Aleyah and Liz and swallowing hard, her hands fidgeting in front of her, she rallied her courage. "T…TC?"

Callie felt ice shoot through her veins as icy cold red optics slid to meet her terrified gaze. She could now understand why seekers were considered to be so dangerous, so ruthless, as he snarled at her like a wild dog. The corner of his lip plate rose to bare the side of his dental plate at her, what would have been his eye teeth were sharp like fangs.

"Don't call me that flesh bag." He snarled at Callie, sending her flinching away as though he had struck her.

The blonde fought back the crystalline tears that wanted to well in her pretty blue eyes, she didn't want to believe that Thundercracker would betray her like this, not after all they went thought. She wanted to believe he was lying, but it was hard to think that when he was snarling at her, the truth of whom he was, literally kicking her in the teeth.

But…but he had saved her out on that high way. He could have left her to be raped, maybe killed. He could have commed Starscream, or more likely Skywarp, to come fetch him afterwards...and where was Skywarp?

Callie faked a hitch in her breath and pressed her pale hand to her mouth and looked up, looking for the purple seeker. Ironhide snarled, drawing Thundercracker's cold gaze to him while Thrust crossed his arms with a laugh.

"Fraggin' 'Con!" the large red Autobot snarled, glancing over his shoulder with a sneer. "After all the girl did for ya, ya gonna murder her after all?"

Thundercracker grinned bitterly at the weapons master. "Decepticon." He said simply, tone icy cold.

Ironhide snarled again and Callie spotted purple wings flash amongst the clouds. She fought the grin and faked another sob; this was a set up.

"Fragging dirty 'Con." Ironhide spat, not fully seeing the whole picture.

Thundercracker heaved a bored sigh and suddenly booted the back of Ironhide's helm with the heel of his thruster. The red Autobot grunted in pain as he fell forward, catching himself on his servos before his face hit the pavement.

Ironhide let another snarl as he pushed himself up. Mirage took a step back into Hound while Ramjet laughed darkly, dropping smoothly into a defensive pose. The stench of fear rolled off the humans, with the exception of Callie, whose anticipation was masked by her cousin's scent as she fought her grin.

In a fluid motion, Thundercracker extended his arm to Thrust, palm up and demanding. Not taking his ruby colored optics from Ironhide's helm, the sub commander coldly demanded. "Give me your blaster Thrust."

The rust colored seeker frowned, his servo coming to rest at the edge of his weapon. "Why?"

"I was taken by Autobots, you fool." The dark blue seeker sneered, red optics narrowed in disdain. "They took my blaster when they brought me in and I was unable to retrieve it. Now give me yours."

Thrust's own red optics narrowed as he clutched his weapon. "How did you escape?"

Thundercracker snorted, servo still reaching out for the expected weapon. "It's an Autobot brig. Wasn't that hard really."

Thrust hesitated, squirming a little. "Why do you want it?"

Seekers never relinquished their weapons, especially when on the ground. "I want to blow Ironhide's helm right from his bloody shoulders. Sick of him always shooting at us. Now, weapon Thrust."

Thrust hesitated, took a step back even, clutching at his shoulder blaster. "But.."

"That's an order Thrust." Thundercracker's icy red optics slid from the back of Ironhide's helm to glare at Thrust's confused ones.

Huffing an annoyed sigh, Thrust sent the codes to his weapon and it unlocked from its shoulder housing. Nearly snarling, the rust colored conehead shoved his blaster at the sub commander, practically throwing it at him.

Sneering back, Thundercracker eased the blaster into his own weapon housing, the ruddy hue of Thrust's color horribly mismatched on the dark blue of the seeker's armor. Allowing the weapon to acclimatize to his frame and systems, a green message appeared in his HUD, asking to synchronize with his programs.

The blue seeker approved the request with a dark smirk that sent a shiver up even Callie's spine; something bad was about to happen, and even she really didn't know how it was going to play out.

Riding the killing edge, Thundercracker could barely focus on his human charge, icy optics fighting to stay on the back of Ironhide's helm as power from his frame hummed through the weapon. The deranged seeker easily raised the blaster to point at the back of the Autobots helm, he was only vaguely aware of him tensing as the conehead by his side laughed with dark, giddy anticipation; he hated Ironhide as much as any Decepticon, wanted to see him dead.

The red weapons master tensed, sneering and snarling, ready to fight to the death had the humans not been in such close range. Raw energy and power hummed through the blaster that nuzzled the back of the Autobot's helm; purple light and Ramjet's shocked squawk, drew Thrust's attention for just a moment, the rust colored conehead's helm snapping up, startled, words trailing from his mouth. "What the..."

Heat pooled at the tip of the weapon, energy gathering, then suddenly, Thundercracker's arm snapped to the side, settling point blank in Thrust's startled face. The confusion from Ramjet's sudden disappearance melted into panic as he stared into the gathering energy of his own weapon.

Spitting a curse, Thrust tried to scramble away and sending all of his energy to his thrusters, the conehead threw himself backwards, power kicking from his heels; a desperate attempt to escape. One that was far too late to stop the attack.

Thundercracker grinned, bitter and ugly at his former comrade, time slowing between the two seekers as he relished in the panic easily read on the others face, the confusion as to why this was happening. Moments before the blast went off, the haughty blue seeker gave his answer to the unasked question of why. ::I like them better.::

Even along the comm. lines, Thundercracker's voice was like acid in Thrust's processor and time sped up once more. The cherry red blast went off as Thrust made one desperate bid for freedom, yet nowhere close enough to the sky to ever gain it; his pedes off the ground, body half turned away from his attacking ex-commander.

The heat that Thrust thought was meant for Ironhide suddenly slammed into the side of his torso, boiling his energon and scotching wires. Screaming in agony, Thrust fell the short distance back to the ground, his spark fluctuating erratically in its casing before everything when black. Terror and betrayal flooded the trine bond from Ramjet.

Thrust landed in a crumpled heap by Dirge, black smoke pooling into the clean air above him from the close range attack; just like Dirge, the conehead was unconscious, but not dead. Thundercracker snarled and lowered Thrust's weapon, knowing the other wasn't worth the energy to finish.

Besides, he was trying to prove to the Autobots that he wasn't a completely cold energoned killer, and despite the deep darkness he was currently encased in, Thundercracker knew that this would only help to prove that. Still, the thought of crushing Thrust's ugly face under his thruster for even daring to point a weapon at Callie, did cross his processor.

A high pitched, near hysteric giggle broke from behind him, causing Thundercracker to turn back to the Autobots. Sideswipe's blue optics flickered in pain as he tried to focus whilst Mirage, Hound and Ironhide were all staring at him with open shock; not even Mirage's Towers upbringing could stop the slack jawed look the noble wore.

Even the humans looked far more disturbed than Thundercracker thought they would have; Liz had her face buried in her sister's chest, her whole tiny body shaking while Aleyah held her; the black haired girl was wide eyed in shock. Danny and Mia were white from where the blood had drained from their faces.

Callie was the only one not looking like she was about to wet herself. The blonde girl was grinning like a fool up at her seeker protector, her tiny hands clenched in fists with excitement. During any other day, at any other time, Thundercracker would have been amused, may have even chuckled at the scene; an eclectic band of Autobot warriors and humans, slack jawed in shock. Yet now, with Callie in danger, his trine mate still missing, and so deeply submerged into the blackness of his spark, Thundercracker could only produce an insane little giggle.

He quickly quashed it as the grin fell from Callie's face as it was replaced with concern. "You okay TC?"

Shaking himself a little, the blue seeker nodded. "I am fine." He closed the distance between them, ignoring Ironhide's stunned look from his position on his knees. Taking a knee by his human charge, cold red optics looked Callie over, searching for injury, scanning her. "You are unharmed?"

Callie frowned at him, studying him back. "Yeah. I'm okay, just a little shook up." She paused for a moment, before asking. "Are you sure you're okay? You seem a little...off."

Thundercracker rose back to his pedes smoothly as Ironhide did the same. "I cannot allow emotion to cloud my judgement, not when the safety of both my trine and you is on the line."

His explanation failed to wipe the concern from her face and the soft part that was buried deep inside him, called for Thundercracker to sooth her worry. "I will return to normal once we return home and are safe. Don't be concerned about me."

The concern melted into grim understanding and Callie gave a firm nod. "We need to find Starscream and Skyfire." She said firmly, knowing that Skywarp was about, somewhere.

A humorless smirk flickered over the seeker's face as Ironhide snorted.

"Fragging 'Cons and your fragging weird humans." The big red Autobot shook his helm as he dusted his legs off. "Could you have cut that any closer?" Ironhide snapped.

Shrugging a single shoulder, Thundercracker's face remained impassive. "It looked real, didn't?"

Ironhide sighed again walking back to Sideswipe, muttering darkly about 'Cons. Crouching by the red frontliner to check the lines as the group gathered in close again, the weapons master glanced over his shoulder. "What happened to Ramjet?"

Thundercracker glanced up, reading the narrowed bond lines for what Skywarp was doing; Callie stood close to his pede, close enough to touch, easy to protect.

The blue seeker looked calmly back to Ironhide. "Ramjet will be rejoining us shortly."

Ironhide snorted again as he helped Sideswipe sit up, the frontliner groaning. Mia's small hands wrung in front of her, fear still clearly etched on her face. "How…how can you tell?"

It was Callie who answered. "Bond." She simply stated, ensuring to leave out the spark bit, it would do them no good for another Decepticon to come along and find out.

The humans blinked at Callie as Hound knelt beside Sideswipe as well, helping Ironhide pull the frontliner to his pedes; energon that had been pooling in his torso spilled out with a splash to the concrete.

"We need to get him help." Hound said softly over Sideswipe's helm.

Grunting, Ironhide scooped the dulling frontliner's legs, swinging them over one arm, cradling the crimson Autobot close to his chest. "No kidding Hound. We need to find Ratchet."

Mirage came to stand beside his mate, servos brushing the green armor while Thundercracker continued to scan the skies, looking for his own mate but not even his worry for Skywarp could break past the layer of ice that surrounded his spark.

Frowning, Mirage opened his mouth as though to say something, when something hard and large slammed into the ground next to Thrust; the sound of wet steel hitting dry, cracked pavement had everyone jumping, the three uninjured Autobots drawing their weapons back up, ready for another fire fight.

Ramjet's pale armor was streaked with dark purple energon and his wings were torn from his back, shoulder canons were crushed at the muzzle and his servos were torn from their joints. The white conehead's red optics were dark and his vents were raspy as he slumped unconscious beside his trine.

Skywarp hit the ground moments after the white conehead, landing easily on his pedes; bright purple energon streaked up his arms, glowing flecks standing out bright across his cheeks and nose, red optics as cold as Thundercracker's.

While stares of bewilderment met the young teleporter, Thundercracker ventured from his charges side to inspect his mate; the seekers circled each other like flying birds of prey, looking for injury.

"You are alright?" Thundercracker murmured roughly, wanting to touch his mate but knowing he couldn't.

"Fine." Skywarp grumbled, armor settling along his frame. "You?"

Thundercracker's helm jabbed in a nod before turning back to the Autobots and humans; they were all covered in soot from the fire burning behind them. They needed to get the lot of them out of here as the humans were untrained and fragile, Sideswipe was bleeding out and Hound look like he wanted to purge. Shame Thundercracker needed the little tracker to hold it together a little longer.

Clearing his vents, Thundercracker addressed the Autobots. "Skyfire went down not far from here but he needs help." The cold, blue seeker nodded to his mate. "Skywarp moved him to a safer place."

"Under a collapsed over pass. I closed the major leaks I could see, but I didn't get them all." The energon covered seeker shrugged. "I didn't have the time to."

Mirage's helm twisted elegantly to face the area that Skyfire went down. "I believe I know where you mean. It would not take us long to get there."

The seekers nodded while Ironhide re-adjusted Sideswipe in his grip. "Aye, wouldn't take long at all. An' it looks like the cavalry has finally arrived." The red Autobot nodded behind the two seekers where Nest helicopters were tiny specs on the horizon.

Two sets of cold red optics focused on the approaching helicopters, Thundercracker shifting nervously before twisting back to face the Autobots, easily falling back into his role of sub commander. "Ironhide, take Mirage with you and get to Skyfire. Hold position once you're there and keep each other safe. Hound will help us navigate the battle field. Skywarp and I will take Sideswipe and the humans back to Prime. We will tell Prime your location then Skywarp and I will search for Starscream."

Callie nodded in agreement, walking towards the seekers. Danny snorted, following her blonde cousin. "Best fucking plan I've heard all day." She muttered, the Shelby forgotten.

Mirage and Hound each shared a worried look, their servos brushing, and Ironhide snarled, voicing their suspicions. "No way 'Con. Yer not given the orders here!"

The seeker pair hissed back, anger thawing the ice a little, Skywarp snarling. "Like you were doing any better before we got here."

Ironhide snarled back but it was Mirage who intervened. "And how are we to trust you? For what reasons should we?"

Thundercracker should not have been so surprised to hear the suspicion in the Tower mech's voice. They had been at war, had been enemies for a very long time and trust was earned not given freely; it was that fact that allowed the blue seeker to keep his patience while his mate felt the rush of anger and hate.

"If we were going to kill you, I wouldn't have taken out Thrust and Ramjet. I have no reason beyond that to give you to trust us besides the fact I am asking you to." Red optics bore into the red weapons master. "But splitting up is more logical."

Mirage remained silent, passive, allowing the seeker to continue. "Mirage has his ability of invisibility that will allow him to get to Skyfire easily and Ironhide has the strength to back him up in case he is discovered."

Thundercracker shrugged as he went on. "Hound will be able to navigate the battle field and get us to Prime. We have no idea where they are going to land, and I'm already getting static from Prowl and Optimus's comm. lines so we will not be able to teleport there."

"Fragging Soundwave." Skywarp mumbled, nearly pouting.

Thundercracker ignored him and continued. "We will take Sideswipe with us. Skywarp will be able to carry him while I can deal with anything that may cross our path. We will get the humans, Sideswipe and your mate to safety."

Mirage's blue frame stiffened at the fact Thundercracker had figured out his connection to the small green scout, and his optics narrowed up at the taller Cybertronian, somehow managing to look down his nose at him.

Thundercracker nearly smirked at him. "Am I wrong?"

The seeker didn't think it was possible, but the noble mech's optics narrowed further as the Ligier remained silent. Pressing a black servo to Mirage's shoulder plate, the scout took a step forward, standing between the cluster of Autobots and the Decepticon duo. "Thundercracker is right." The scout ignored the angry, irritated look from his mate and weapon's master. "We can't leave Skyfire out there much longer and we can't bring the humans and Sideswipe with us." He cast an apologetic glance to the humans. "They are a liability. "

Ironhide made a displeased noise in the back of his throat, but Hound ignored him and continued. "And I believe them. I don't think Thundercracker would risk his life or the life of his trine mate if they intend to betray us. Besides, they don't smell like deceit."

"He can _smell_ deceit?" Danny staged whispered to her cousin, sounding more amused than she should have considering the situation.

"Oh, yes I can. I have special senses…"Hound's explanation was cut off by Ironhide's irritated growl while the weapon's specialist glowered at the seekers.

Mirage leaned down to his mate to whisper. "You can explain on the way."

Ironhide snorted and shook his helm before going back to scowling unhappily at the two groups. "I don't like this plan. Not one bit!" Venting a heavy sigh, the red Autobot continued. "But we don't have a choice here."

The large Autobot motioned for Skywarp to take Sideswipe, his blue optics burning as the seeker smirked, smug, before slowly approaching the angry weapons master. As the teleporter took his injured new friend from the Autobot commander, Ironhide leaned in close, his breath smoothing over the seeker's face. "If anything happens to them girls or Sideswipe, I promise ya, nothing will stop me from ripping yer bloody wings off. Understand?"

Thundercracker snarled from behind his mate, fists clenching in rage; Skywarp grinned, looking crazy, at Ironhide. "And if you try old mech, I'll send ya to meet Primus at the well of sparks."

Skywarp eased Sideswipe out of Ironhide's hold, cradling the unconscious frontliner with surprising gentleness against his chest. Ironhide snarled, taking another step towards the grinning seeker, cracking his knuckles. "Listen kid…"

The situation was once again diffused by Hound, the green scout putting himself between the two larger mechs, servos up to both their chests. "Enough. We don't have time for this, not with Sideswipe and Skyfire hurt."

The scouts voice was firm and solid; it was easy to forget that being poor had hardened Hound long before the war had sunk its claws into him. He may not have enjoyed fighting but he had no problem with diffusing it. "We all know what needs to be done. Let's get it done."

Ironhide at the very least had the good grace to look somewhat ashamed whereas Skywarp continued to grin at the Autobot. Huffing, the red Autobot turned, determined to find their fallen comrade. "Let's go Mirage."

The spy master paused by his mate and leaned in close. "Stay safe." He murmured quiet enough, that the seekers didn't hear him.

The annoyance and stress was gone from Hound's face as he smiled back at his mate. "I will."

Mirage glanced nervously back at the seekers and the humans before turning his attention back to the green scout. Leaning even closer, the spy muttered. "If it comes down to it, if it means your life, get out."

Hound's surprise and horror felt like acid to Mirage's spark, and the green scout tried to protest but was quickly hushed. "No Hound. Leave if you have to. You mean too much to me to allow you to be killed in a seeker grudge match. If they find themselves in a fire fight, get out. Save the humans if you can, but your life is what matters most."

Hound sighed, taking Mirage's servo and squeezing it tight. "No one's life is more important over another." This time it was Mirage who was hushed as Hound continued. "I'm not more important. Everything will be okay. I'll lead the seekers to Optimus then I'll bring them to you. We'll meet up soon enough."

Hound gave his blue mate a gentle smile and another tight squeeze. "You'd better get going, Ironhide's already annoyed."

Venting a sigh, Mirage reluctantly let go of Hound's servo and took a step back; with one last worried glance over his shoulder the spy turned to catch up with Ironhide's angry march. He fought not to look back at his still new mate, focusing at the task at servo.

Thundercracker slid up beside Hound's side, watching the weapons master and the master spy pick their way through the rubble, that was once Callie's home, and disappear around the wreckage. Hound vented before physically gathering himself; the tracker closed his optics, shuttered, and turned to face Thundercracker.

"Are you ready?" His voice came so softly that Thundercracker almost missed it.

The blue seeker nodded, turning to head back to the others. The soft voice at the back of Thundercracker processor told him to reach out, this was his chance. It was time to start building bridges. Taking a breath, Thundercracker gave the green tracker a sidelong glance. "Thank you." He murmured as they approached their little rag tag team.

Hound's confused look shot to the blue seeker's face, despite the fact that Thundercracker refused to meet his gaze full on. "For what?" The tracker asked quietly.

The Decepticon shrugged. "For speaking your mind. For not letting us down. For having our back, I suppose."

Confusion melted away to delight as Hound grinned back at the seeker, a very real potential ally. "For trusting you?"

Thundercracker stared straight ahead as they closed the distance to the rest of their group. "Yes. I couldn't have done it with my own mate, and here you are putting yourself in harm's way for your own." The blue seeker cast a glance to the tracker. "It is very admirable."

Hound grinned back. "Well, Prowl seems to trust you and our second is very rarely wrong. I know some of the other Autobots think he's cold sparked, but he does his best." The grin slipped from the trackers face. "And if Prowl says you can be trusted, then you can be trusted."

Thundercracker canted his helm, his own confusion bleeding through the ice. "How can you have such trust in your superiors?"

It was as honest a question as ever. The seeker had never trusted Megatron in such a way. Hound's grim face met Thundercracker's, ensuring to hold the seeker's attention. "Our commanders are different Thundercracker. Optimus is different..." The tracker trailed off, trying to find the right words. "Optimus and Prowl always try to do what is best for everyone. It…it may not always work but they would never intentionally hurt any of us, and I trust them because of that."

Hound could literally smell the seeker's confusion, so the tracker went on. "Besides, I can tell you're not lying. Emotions, if they are strong enough, can be felt and if one is attuned enough, they can be sensed in other ways. Certain emotions trigger certain responses within the body."

The tracker shrugged. "Deceit smells like spoilt energon. It's musty and bitter. I just sense worry and confusion from you."

As they came to the rest of their little motley crew, Thundercracker gave the tracker a confused look. "You Autobots and your ideals confound me."

Hound offered his taller counterpart a small, hesitant smile. "I know. But if it's any consolation, you puzzle us to."

That produced a small snort from the Decepticon sub commander, and just like that, the odd moment was gone. At Skywarp's pedes, the humans stood clustered together, Liz still clinging to Aleyah, and Mia, Callie and Danny looking to the tracker and the seeker for guidance.

The purple seeker that stood tall above them held the crimson frontliner close to his chest, all sense of mockery gone from his face as Skywarp focused on his bond mate.

"What now TC?" Callie quietly asked the question on everyone's mind.

Thundercracker cast a glance to the tracker at his side. "Hound? Where do we go from here?"

The tracker sighed and looked back up to the skies, studying the landing helicopters. Pointing to where they circled, despite the explosions as Megatron's Decepticons attacked, Hound stayed calm and firm. "The others will set up a command hub on the outskirts of the battle and will focus our forces on the worst areas." Blue optics met cold red. "Our best bet would be to stick to the outskirts ourselves, away from the worst of the battle. It may take us a little longer to join up with the main contingency, but it will be safer than taking five unarmed, untrained humans through the middle of a war zone."

Skywarp shifted nervously, not used to taking orders from an Autobot, while Thundercracker nodded, adapting to the situation as it changed. "Lead our way Hound. I'll cover the rear, but call if we run into any other Decepticons."

The tracker nodded, and Thundercracker continued. "Skywarp you stay between us, keep to the ground with Sideswipe, but watch for other 'Con's."

The teleporter nodded, readjusting his grip on Sideswipe, the frontliner still passed out. Thundercracker finally looked down at Callie's firm face and the seeker said firmly. "Keep your cousins together, stay with Skywarp. Understand?"

Five head's bobbed in understanding, Liz still refusing to look up from her sister's bosom. Nodding to himself, Thundercracker looked back to Hound. "Lead us out of here."

Hound nodded, face set in grim determination as he turned, slowly picking his way from the compound that was once the garage of the humans home, the small rag tag group following close behind.

"Hound can you hail any one on your comm. at all?" Skywarp asked quietly.

Square helm canted in an attempt to make contact, Hound shook his helm no. "No, like you said about the command staff's comms, nothing but static."

Skywarp frowned, glancing down at his injured friend. "What about a bond?"

Hound thought about it, glancing up. "Yeah, that would work. If Sides comes back around ask him to reach out to Sunny."

Skywarp nodded. With Thundercracker close behind and the humans at their pedes, he opened his mouth to speak when _rage/hate/betrayal_ ripped through the trine lines, burning in his processor, making him stumble.

Behind him Thundercracker flinched from the feelings of hate while Skywarp dropped to a knee, trying hard not to drop Sideswipe's battered frame. They were barely out of the compound's grounds when the deep feelings of betrayal ripped through long erected blocks, echoing through the bonded pair.

It shattered the ice from both Skywarp's and Thundercracker's sparks and the pair echoed back _worry/trine/worry_ back down the trine bonds. The teleporter eased Sideswipe to the ground in fear of dropping him and a thin, reedy whine broke from his vocaliser while Thundercracker shuttered.

Neither had felt such utter hate and betrayal from their trine mate before, and with every attempt at comfort they sent, the feelings of betrayal echoed back, tenfold.

Skywarp whimpered again while Thundercracker realized he had fallen to his knees, clutching his helm. Through the haze he hadn't even realized he had sunk down so low and Hound was suddenly in front of him, his mouth moving but Thundercracker couldn't understand a word he was saying, all sound drowned out from the black _hate_ that was pouring in from Starscream's side of the trine bond.

Yet, Thundercracker didn't dare block it, not when his trine leader was so easily projecting. Maybe if they could calm him, if he could _feel_ their sincerity, he could be reasoned with.

Gasping, Thundercracker regained control of his own processor, controlling Starscream's turbulent emotions while Skywarp continued to whine. Catching Hound's worried gaze, the blue seeker gasped. "Starscream, he's angry. Something is wrong."

"He's close" Skywarp gasped out, holding his shaking frame above the damaged frontliner.

Hound looked worried while Thundercracker nodded, his helm spinning with his trine leader's rage. Pushing himself to his pedes, Thundercracker glanced up, optics peeled and looking for his wayward trine leader, fear suddenly coursing through him.

Neither he nor Skywarp had ever felt Starscream feel so angry, so hurt and so full of desolation. Hound stood with him, watching the skies for the tri colored seeker and he could literally feel the fear and worry roll off the blue seeker.

"What do you think is wrong with him?" Hound asked quietly as an eerie quiet settled over the small group; the only sounds of battle were gun fire in the distance.

The blue seeker shook his helm. "I don't know." He breathed, clenching his fists, optics still on the sky, searching. "I don't know what has happened."

Skywarp shook himself, narrowing the trine bond, but not closing it off and pushed himself back onto his pedes. "Now what do we do?"

Thundercracker sighed, the humans all looking up searching for the lost trine leader. "Well, Scree is here, that's half the job done right there."

Skywarp looked uncertain, fear knotting his tanks, at his older mate. "TC, can't you feel that rage? He hates us."

"I know."

"What did we do?" He was near hysterical.

Thundercracker forced himself to stay calm. "I don't know. You know how Scree can be; even the smallest thing can be a large infraction to him." But this was different; this was something much worse than usual hurt feelings.

This anger was something deeper, colder, right from the spark. Some kind of spark entrenched hurt that ran far deeper than even Thundercracker knew about.

"Hound," Thundercracker muttered, voice deep and low, nearly choking on emotion. "Take the girls and get them to Prime. We'll be along soon."

The green tracker's blue optics were pinned above him, ignoring Thundercracker's words. "Hey Thundercracker, I think I see Starscream."

The seeker pair looked to where Hound was pointing high above them; Starscream was floating along the warm currents, fists clenched in rage, face contorted with hatred as he snarled down at the small group on the ground.

Thundercracker felt his spark clench and his frame stiffened. Starscream was beyond furious and the blue seeker was _sure_ it was his doing. Whether it was imaginary or not, Starscream was livid with him and Skywarp, that much Thundercracker knew.

Thundercracker's worried red optics caught and held Starscream's, they were bright with his naked fury. Skywarp whimpered again at seeing his trine leader's state and took a step back in fear, wings dropped low and nearly scraping the ground in submission.

The sub commander forced himself to stand a little taller, forced his wings higher than he would have liked, but tighter to his body, unafraid and not willing to be cowed. Neutral. Thundercracker just wanted to talk, that was all.

Holding his servos up in a sign of surrender, Thundercracker tried to call through the comm. lines to his wing leader. ::Starscream. Scree, I just want to talk. Please calm down so we can talk.::

There was no response from his trine leader besides the flood of rage, so Thundercracker tried again. ::Scree, please. It's me TC. Please just calm down so we can talk this out.::

Thundercracker's spark felt pleading fell to hypothetical deaf audios as Starscream continued to glare down at his blue counterpart. The deep, hurtful rage continued to burn through Starscream, ripping through every fibre of his being.

A stressed chirr left the blue seeker as he watched his trine leader float above them, unmoving, unblinking, a dark mass of hate. "This isn't good." Thundercracker muttered as he shifted nervously.

Stressed filled moments passed between the pair, but for Thundercracker it felt like an eternity and when Starscream attacked, it was without warning. The dull plated seeker screeched a hoarse, broken sound before he plummeted to the earth below, thrusters powered high as he threw himself bodily at his trine mate.

The blue seeker cursed to himself and quickly shoved Hound away from the soon to be fight, bracing himself for the attack; Starscream was injured, weakened, and the tri colored seeker shouldn't be able to take him off his pedes.

Yet, Starscream was fuelled by rage and black hate, and digging deep for that extra burst of strength, he slammed into Thundercracker as hard and as fast as he could push his thrusters. He took Thundercracker clean off his pedes, tackling the other like a line backer, slamming the blue seeker into the ground.

The air from Thundercracker's vents rushed from his frame in a hard _whoosh_ as he fell onto his back, skidding away from the rest of the little group he was desperate to protect. One of the girls screamed as Thundercracker rolled them further away from the group, grabbing onto Starscream's wrists.

Starscream tucked his wings tight to his body and used the momentum to keep Thundercracker rolling, pinning the blue seeker beneath him, straddling his white hips when they finally stopped. With an animalistic snarl, Starscream wrenched one, dull blue servo from Thundercracker's servo and thrust it high and hard above his helm.

Making a desperate grab for the limb, Thundercracker managed to cry out. "Starscream wait!" before his commander saw his chance and slammed his tightly balled fist into the side of Thundercracker's face.

The pliable metal and soft silicon of the side of the blue seeker's face gave and with a sickening crunch, his nose broke, spewing bright purple energon. The second hit from Starscream was aimed for Thundercracker's chin; his lower lip split under Starscream's knuckles, his jaw bending inwards.

The trine bonds became a battle field; hurt and betrayal was used to cripple Thundercracker while love and worry were used to bring down Starscream.

Face beaten and bleeding, Thundercracker managed to catch Starscream's fist on the third strike; the rest of the group were either crying or yelling, but it was lost on the two seekers.

"Starscream, calm down!" Thundercracker yelled up at his commander while they struggled, the Vosian air commander cursing him in his native tongue, everything else lost in the rage that ruled Starscream's spark.

Dull grey caught Thundercracker's optics, standing out against the red of Starscream's abdomen; and eons of watching for weaknesses in others, screamed for Thundercracker to strike, to take advantage of his opponent's vulnerability and exploit it.

He was still a Decepticon after all and he had every intention of winning this fight, of calming Starscream down.

Thundercracker let go of Starscream's fist, the one that was now covered in his own purple energon, and aimed his strike for the thin, weak armor of the patch. Starscream raised his fist to strike at the same time Thundercracker's tightly curled fist slammed into the weak, rusty patch. The steel dented under the sudden impact causing Starscream to gasp as agony ripped through him, echoing through his tanks and innards.

The air commander's dull blue servo clamped over the injury as he doubled over, warnings flooding his HUD. Thundercracker used the opportunity to toss Starscream from his frame, heaving his air commander over his helm with a grunt of effort.

Starscream crashed face first into the ground; one arm curled around his helm to protect his face while the other clamped to his injured side. Thundercracker scrambled to his pedes, and putting his body between Starscream and the odd group of humans, Autobots and a Decepticon seeker, the blue seeker forced his frame to stand tall and proud despite his heaving vents and bleeding face; wings high and protective on his back.

The Decepticon second in command was slower to get to his pedes, the mind games and break down from aboard the _Nemesis_ were still too fresh, too raw. His vents were heaving as badly as Thundercracker's and the trine bonds fell silent as Starscream pushed himself to his pedes.

Energon trickled from between his digits as Starscream gripped at the damaged patch, standing on shaky pedes before anger and hurt returned to the trine bonds. Thundercracker was sure that his trine leader had no clue he was projecting so strongly.

Still venting deeply, the lieutenant struggled to calm his anger but managed to quell it and send the deep seated worry trilling down the bond. Still, his voice shook and Thundercracker struggled to keep the sneer from it. "Would you _calm_ down now?"

Despite his heaving vents and shaking legs, Starscream's voice was surprisingly calm when he spoke and Thundercracker chalked it up to dealing with Megatron for eons. "Calm? How in the Pit am I to remain calm when _you_ betrayed me!"

Thundercracker felt his own shock ripple down the trine bond to Starscream, the lieutenant unable to stop the anger that bled into his tone. " _We_ betrayed _you_!"

"Yes!"

Slack jawed with shock, all Thundercracker could do was stare in bewilderment before irritation replaced the worry. "We. Betrayed. You!?" Digits tapping hard at his own chest, Thundercracker sneered again. "How did _we_ betray _you_? Please, explain! I'd love to hear this explanation!"

Starscream snarled back, one servo curling into a tight fist, his face contorted into rage. "You two left me _again_! As you always do!" It was a weak statement, but it was true, and Starscream was far too weak, too hurt to care that he sounded like a sulking sparkling.

Wings drooping lower on his back, Thundercracker frowned at his trine leader, hurt dancing behind the rage in his spark. "We did not leave you Starscream. I was shot down and _you_ left me!"

The trine leader flinched at the accusation, taking a step back. "We were coming back for you." There was a defensive tone in Starscream's voice.

Thundercracker sucked on his denta, tasting energon. "I know." He sent _calm/trine/safe_ to his wing leader, letting the calm take over. "You did what you had to do. But you can't blame us for doing the same!"

Uncertain, Starscream took another step back, energon leaking from between his digits as they remained clamped to his reopened wound. Thundercracker took a step forward, slowly raising his servos in surrender. "Easy Starscream," his ruby optics finally taking in Starscream's haggard, worn out frame. "I know you were coming back for me. And you can't blame Skywarp for coming after me."

Behind him his purple mate shifted uncomfortably, standing protectively in front of Sideswipe who still lay, unconscious on the ground; he stayed silent, perfectly still, following the confusing, turbulent emotions along the tine bonds. He kept the spark bond wide open, feeding silent support to Thundercracker.

"But we never forgot about you Starscream," Another hesitant step forward. "We were coming for you. I've brokered a deal with Prime, we can't stay with Megatron any more Starscream. He's going to get one of us killed, if he doesn't do it himself."

The air commander's optics dropped; this was an argument they'd had before and Starscream's rebuttal had always been _where would we go?_ But that argument was gone now. Thundercracker took another step. "Look at what he's doing to you. This _isn't_ right Starscream. He can't treat us like this anymore."

Yet another step brought Thundercracker closer, confidence blooming. "We can end this. We can make a difference. We can join Prime."

Starscream's optics shot up. "And what, become Autobots!?"

Thundercracker ignored the scorn. "Never." He snapped. "But we can stand with Prime as Decepticons. Bring honor back to our name."

Starscream snorted. "What honor? We're nothing but gutter mechs and killers. Where's the honor there?"

Denta gritted, Thundercracker could taste metal shavings. "We weren't always." He snapped. "And if you want to be leader of the Decepticons Starscream, then fragging lead! No one said we had to follow Megatron!"

Starscream flinched again, hesitating. Thundercracker took the chance to continue, taking another step, bringing him almost chest to chest with his commander. "We don't have to follow him anymore Starscream. We have a real chance to get the Pit away from him. Prime will help us."

"In exchange for what?" The commander sneered, optics dropping back down.

"Loyalty and peace. That's all Prime wants Scree," Thundercracker used a nick name in hopes to reach his trine leader. "Full tanks, safe place to be, no beatings, no _Hole_. And all he asks for in return is our loyalty."

The tri colored seeker looked unsure, squirming at the close proximity created by Thundercracker. "But…but you chose those blasted humans over me!" Rage returned to Starscream's voice, raising it to a higher, strained pitch before he dropped it down low, muttering so that only Thundercracker could hear. "Why can't anyone ever just choose me?"

Thundercracker frowned, Starscream wasn't like this. Wasn't so weak, so easily hurt; something else must have happened on the _Nemesis_ , when he was alone with Megatron. Steeling his determination, Thundercracker pushed _comfort/reassurance/brotherly love_ down the trine bond, finally feeling Starscream's fear, hurt and anger.

Megatron had done something to his wing leader, had cracked his tough but brittle internal armor with words, and this time no one had been there to back Starscream up. Slowly reaching for Starscream's servos, Thundercracker took them and squeezed hard. "Scree. We didn't choose the humans first, we found them first. We'd never leave you alone with Megatron. Not for long. Not ever."

Starscream's face contorted into distrust and anger, the words Megatron had fed him were still too fresh, too raw in his mind. He squirmed at Thundercracker's words; he wanted to believe him, desperately, but how could he? They had left him...

Yet, he left them first. A long time ago, when he began to close his side of the bond off from them, forcing them into each other's arms, forcing them to seek comfort from each other because he couldn't allow them too close. He had caused this, had done this; had broken the trine long before they ran off to spark bond with each other.

Glancing over his shoulder, Thundercracker shifted, his grip on Starscream never faltering. "We were coming to find you Starscream, once we got the humans to safety," Be honest. "We had plans to find you before this. I was still healing and needed time to gather my strength," Be open. "We had no intention of leaving you behind"

"Come with us Starscream. We are heading to Prime right now. Come with us, we'll get you fixed and fed. Everything will be okay, just come with us." Thundercracker put everything he had into his carefully chosen words while he projected calm and pleaded with his wing mate, and he would go so far as to beg. "Please Starscream. Come with us. It doesn't have to be this way anymore. We don't have to stay like this."

Starscream blinked at his pedes, optics were bright with confusion and worry, dull blue servos gripped tightly onto Thundercracker's black ones. The lieutenant could feel his wing leader's turmoil; could feel the hurt and fear that bled through the trine bonds. He could feel Starscream's mixed feelings of inadequacy and his want to believe his trine mate.

Thundercracker squeezed hard and gave the tri colored seeker a soft tug towards their group. He was in a slight state of shock, too out of it to do more than allow himself to be dragged along. Starscream took a small step towards the group, then another, and another.

His venting picked up again and Thundercracker was sure he would panic and bolt, so the blue seeker squeezed his servo again, getting him to take another step. "It's okay Starscream." Thundercracker kept his voice cool and calm, like talking to a wild animal.

Starscream swallowed hard, optics still downcast, looking nothing like the arrogant, cocky wing leader that Thundercracker knew and loved. "It's okay Scree, just come with us. Prime has already accepted my bargain. You'll get to lead the Decepticons and we'll get to be a unit of the Autobots. You'll still get to be a commander. Who knows who else will leave Megatron's sick rule to come with us. It's just…" Thundercracker struggled for words, struggled to say how he felt after eons of hiding it. "It's just someone had to be brave and leave first. We'd never leave you behind Starscream, we love you too much for that, but we can't stay with Megatron anymore."

Fear laced acceptance flooded Starscream's side of the trine bonds, despite his shaky outward appearance. Relief flooded Thundercracker and a small grin spread across his face. It wouldn't always be this easy, once Starscream was back on his pedes, he'd be a servo-full and between him and Skywarp, Thundercracker wasn't sure which one would cause more grief amongst the Autobots.

At that moment, Thundercracker wouldn't have it any other way; besides, Skywarp had Sideswipe as a playmate now and the red hellion would have his back if another tried to pick a fight with his bonded.

"It's going to be okay Starscream." Thundercracker assured, relieved that at least for now, he would get his way. Today was the day he would win.

Starscream gave a small shaky nod, still not looking up, still torn up from what Megatron had said to him. Another few steps and they'd be with the group. Then they could go find Prime and get Starscream back to the _Ark,_ get him some proper help.

Thundercracker was so close to accomplishing his goal, so close to closing the book to this whole misguided adventure and all they had to do, was to get out of there.

Thundercracker had been so, so close to accomplish that simple goal.


	17. The End is Only the Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It all comes to an end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Important Information
> 
> "Blah" Speaking
> 
> ::Blah:: comm. link
> 
> 'Blah'bonded speech
> 
> 'Blah' thinking
> 
> Astrosecond- 2.5 earth Seconds
> 
> Klik- 150 earth seconds/ 2.5 earth Minutes
> 
> Orn- 150 earth minutes/ 2.5 earth Hours
> 
> Joor- 60 earth hours/2.5 earth Days
> 
> Metacycle- 17.5 earth days/2.5 earth Weeks
> 
> Vorn- 10 earth weeks/2.5 earth months
> 
> Stellercycle-30 earth months/2.5 years
> 
> Breem-slang for a moment/minute.
> 
> Night Cycle: star down to star up
> 
> Day Cycle: Star up to star down
> 
> Authors Note: Alright guys, here is the last half of the last chapter. I hope it's everything you guys are expecting!
> 
> A huge thank you to my beta, DarknessRising10 who powered through this monster chapter like a boss!

When Megatron landed softly next to Starscream, dark grin spread across his face, Thundercracker knew the real fight was just beginning.

Both Starscream and Thundercracker gasped, flinching away from each other, the blue seeker making the mistake of letting go of his trine leader. Starscream instantly tore away from his lieutenant as though he had been burned; scrambling back the few steps that Thundercracker had led him, siding with Megatron. Snarling, the aerial lieutenant took a few steps back himself, putting his body between Megatron's fusion canon and the small group behind him.

Megatron's crooked grin turned into an ugly sneer. "Well, well, well. What have we here? A pair of traitorous seekers, and trying to take _my_ aerial commander from me I see. Tsk, I thought you had more class Thundercracker."

Megatron smiled cruelly while Thundercracker hissed at his previous master, taking another step back. Fear shot through the blue seeker; the need to save Starscream and Skywarp as strong as the need to save Callie.

The titan leader took a step forward while Starscream's dull optics cast downwards, shame flooding the bond from the trine leader's side. The feelings of inadequacy rivalled the shame as Megatron spoke, his words cold and cutting. "You're all alone here Thundercracker. All alone with no one to help you. You're going to die here Thundercracker, die a slow, agonizing death by my servos for your traitorous actions."

Fighting against the urge to kneel, to submit as he had always done in the past, Thundercracker stood tall, wings held high, unafraid. "Rust in the Pit Megatron. I am not afraid of you."

The brave words were met with a sneer. "You will be, when I'm done with you. Just look what I did to your trine leader? He managed to hold on for eons, how long do you think you'll last?" Starscream flinched and lowered his wings while Megatron continued. "He used to fight against spilling his tears in front of me, still does. I wonder if you even possess the same strength or will you merely crumble from what I do to you?"

A thick grey servo made to grab at Thundercracker's thigh, high, aiming for his interface panel. The blue seeker snarled and took a step back, dodging the sloppy grab. Megatron smirked. "Run, run, run as fast as you can little seeker but you're all alone, and you'll never out run me."

Thundercracker managed to stifle a flinch, his processor racing with the implication of Megatron's words and what he did to Starscream and why the feelings of hatred, self-loathing and inadequacy hummed through the bond.

"He…he's not alone!"

Megatron, for just a moment, looked confused, shocked as Hound proved he was as strong as the other Autobots when the time called for it, just as brave as the others by stepping up and standing side by side with Thundercracker.

The small tracker may have trembled and fear may have coursed through him, but he stood with all the nobility of an elite warrior. Mirage, Hound was sure, was going to kill him if they survived this encounter.

Without a word, Skywarp stood and took his place at Thundercracker's other side. Just as brave, just as noble, not willing to back down to Megatron's oppression any more.

Surprised filled Starscream as Megatron cocked a metallic brow in amusement, two Decepticons and an Autobot standing together? For what? Why defend each other when they were all going to die horrible deaths?

Megatron was curious, to be honest, as to what could have possibly shake Thundercracker's faith in the Decepticon cause to the point of betrayal? What could have led him to the Autobots? The titan Decepticon looked past the odd wall of two Decepticon's and the single Autobot to where the foolish frontliner lay, his frame still, his rasping ventilations gurgling and cracking. Clearly not what had finally led Thundercracker astray; no the blue hued seeker was far too invested in protecting _something_.

A small, almost unnoticeable movement caught his red optic; a movement so tiny that had he not been looking, he would not have taken any notice. In fact, it would have been too far beneath his notice at any other time, yet that small, tiny movement grasped his attention and it belonged to a human, a human that huddled within the small knot of girls that hid behind the seekers and the tracker.

Humans! It was humans that had been the catalyst to Thundercracker joining the Autobot ranks. Small, defenceless, stupid humans. Self-destructive, squishy, genocidal _humans_.

Megatron couldn't help it, he honestly tried to fight it, tried to stop it and maintain the vision of the hardened, gladiator leader that he was. Yet he couldn't stop the cold laughter from bubbling straight from his core as the mere thought that _humans_ had somehow managed to convince Thundercracker to not only turn his back on his faction, but his trine leader as well.

Starscream glanced with worried optics at his master and Thundercracker took a step back, urging the two mechs flanking him to do the same. Megatron was unhinged at the best of times but there was no telling what he would do in the face of such a betrayal.

The dark, cold laughter died off abruptly and Megatron's sharp red optics bore into the trio before him. Addressing Starscream, but still staring down Thundercracker, Megatron's sneering voice bit out like icy wind. "Tell me Starscream, how does it feel to know your own trine mate, your own lieutenant, left you for some humans?"

Thundercracker tensed his frame and kept his crimson optics hard and focused on Megatron. Starscream choose to not to answer his master's scathing words, optics still downcast and dull while rage and hatred swept through to Thundercracker from Starscream's side of the trine bonds.

But the hatred was directed towards Megatron, not him so Thundercracker pushed understanding and more love down the bond, watching his commander shutter from the corner of his optic. Megatron missed the tremble while he continued to stare down Thundercracker.

Taking a chance, Thundercracker opened a private line to Starscream, hoping to reach him ::Scree. Don't listen to him. He's lying. We'd never leave you.:: Crimson optics softened at his trine mate's words. :: We were coming for you. We'd never leave you. You're stronger than this, don't let him win!::

Hatred for Megatron warred with confusion and fear of the unknown, unsure if he was being led astray.

"Tell me Thundercracker, which of these pretty pets belong to you?" Megatron's cold, dark voice snapped the proud seeker's attention back to him, his blue frame stiffening just a little further.

"You won't get near them." Skywarp snarled, suddenly rushing back into the killing edge he had barely left, knowing how much it would hurt his sweet wings should anything happen to Callie.

Hound nodded in agreement, blaster clutched tightly in his dull black servo while he continued to try his comm., hoping that someone would hear his call for help.

Megatron's maniacal laughter broke from him again, high, mocking and cold. "And you really believe that you can stop me if I choose to?"

Skywarp snarled and Thundercracker could feel himself rushing back towards the killing edge. This was a foolish endeavour. Megatron could, and would kill them; his armor was thicker, his weapons more powerful, but Thundercracker had speed on his side. Maybe if they distracted the Decepticon, maybe Hound could get the others out alive.

' _ **Sky, we need to get him away from the humans.'**_

' _ **What about Starscream?'**_

Thundercracker paused, considering their options. There had to be a way for all of them to survive this. _**'We distract Megatron enough for Hound to get the girls out. Then you go for Scree and get him out of here. Teleport him someplace safe, then come back for Sideswipe. In the meantime I'll keep Megatron busy.'**_

Skywarp hesitated, unsure, _**'This is isn't a good plan. Too much can go wrong. What if…'**_

' _ **No what if's Skywarp. Teleport behind Megatron and aim for his knees, cripple him if you can. I'll tell Hound to get out of here then take over the fight.'**_

' _ **But...'**_ Skywarp's fear was palatable, coming through even the cold hardness of the killing edge.

Thundercracker narrowed crimson optics on the mech that was once his leader, knowing Prime would take care of the girls should anything happen to him. He was also confident that if this worked, Ratchet would repair his body should he survive the attack.

More importantly, Thundercracker had unwavering confidence in Skywarp's abilities. _**'On my count.'**_

The bond filled with worry and uncertainly for a moment, before drowning out to a cold void of nothing as Skywarp prepared himself, steeled himself. _**'Three...'**_

This had to work. It was the only way they would get out of this alive. _**'Two...'**_

Or he would die trying and if he did, at least he'd die a free mech, Skywarp would die a free mech. _**'One...'**_

It was all he could hope for right then. _**'GO!'**_

Skywarp disappeared in a flash of purple light, reappearing behind Megatron. The youngest of the seekers dropped to his knees, slashing through the back of Megaton's knee, ripping through cables and lines. Bright purple energon spewed out mixed with bright blue coolant, splashing on the ground.

The attack happened so fast that Megatron hadn't he time to dodge; the damaged knee gave out under his weight with a gasp. At the same moment, Thundercracker turned to Hound, grabbing the stunned Autobot by the shoulder and roughly pushing him towards the girls. "GET THEM OUT HOUND! WE'LL MEET UP WITH YOU LATER!" Thundercracker roared at him.

The tracker didn't hesitate, turning and running for the girls, hating that he'd have to leave Sideswipe behind in order to save them.

The blue seeker felt himself drop hard past the killing edge and he charged Megatron as the titan leader forced himself to stand, turning to attack Skywarp.

Starscream stood rigid, optics wide, shocked that his trine would do something so dumb as to attack _Megatron_. Yet Thundercracker did just that and as Megatron raised his servo to strike the purple seeker, his claws poised to rip though armor, Thundercracker's own claws ripped into a seam at Megatron's shoulder.

With a grunt, the blue seeker tore wires from Megatron's shoulder but the Decepticon leader was used to fighting multiple adversaries; one did not survive the pits of Kaon without that ability, and he grabbed Skywarp by the arm, throwing him bodily into his mate.

Thundercracker caught Skywarp as he was tossed sideways at him; the purple seeker slammed horizontally into the older seeker, and with a grunt, Thundercracker fell backwards, Skywarp sprawled across his chest.

Megatron used his moment of freedom to charge Hound; the Decepticon leader may not have understood _why_ these humans were so important to Thundercracker, nor he did he care, but he would take this from the blue menace, before he ended his pitiful life.

The massive Decepticon caught Hound before he reached the humans, a massive servo wrapping tightly around a green upper arm, denting the metal. He dragged the tracker back two steps before burying his fist deep into green abdominal plates. The small tracker gasped, dropping his blaster, the air rushing from his vents as Megatron winded him; he dropped to his knees, grasping at his belly and trying to get his erratic venting under control. A cruel grin spread across the Decepticon's face as Megatron stepped behind Hound, wrapping his servos around the little 'bots head. He could easily tear it off, ending his miserable life.

Fear and panic coursed through Hound as Megatron's massive, cold servos gripped his helm, one good twist and that would be the end of him. One of the girls screamed his name and Hound said a silent prayer to Primus, to watch out for Mirage now that he no longer could.

Megatron's digits tensed on the trackers helm and everything suddenly played in slow motion; Skywarp was suddenly behind Megatron, two sets of pointed claws digging into the leader's shoulders. Burrowing and twisting to get to the struts beneath the thick armor, to the cables that would render the arms useless. It would do no good to pull out the thin wires and cables at the surface of his shoulders, he needed to dig his way down to the important ones, the ones that were buried deep and controlled motor function.

Megatron howled in rage and kicked the small tracker away from him, Hound gasping as he fell forward, grateful that he wasn't dead. Rolling himself, the green mech scooped his blaster, turning to fire at Megatron's massive chest. His shots scorched and burnt the wide grey chest, the smell of molten metal filling the air.

The titan roared; with laser fire to his front and Skywarp's claws to his shoulders, Megatron acted quickly. Reaching over his shoulder, he made a grab for Skywarp, clamping a wide servo around the seeker's thin throat.

Hissing like a wild cat, the seeker thrashed in Megatron's hold, but the ex-gladiator had the size and strength to hoist the seeker higher into the air, tossing him at Hound. The Autobot gasped and stopped his firing, a very real fear of hitting the teleporter at the forefront of Hound's processor.

Skywarp slammed into Hound and the pair went tumbling down like rag dolls.

The entire attack lasted mere astroseconds, though it seemed so much longer to the Decepticon seeker and the Autobot tracker. Megatron's chest plates were black and scorched, his shoulders leaking from the wounds inflicted by Skywarp, yet the Decepticon leader proved himself worthy of being a ruler by standing tall, bellowing in his triumph, fusion canon powering up; it had only been a matter of time before the slagger used it on one of them.

While Skywarp and Hound quickly detangled themselves, Thundercracker charged Thrust's weapon; the familiar feeling of the muzzle heating up brought a small measured of comfort to the blue seeker. Megatron met Thundercracker's gaze with a smirk; the blue seeker grinned back, weapon poised and ready to attack. His ex-leader slowly raised the fusion canon at his arm, and Thundercracker waited for its high ark to point at him.

Horror rose from his centre as Megatron pointed the fusion canon at a still unconscious Sideswipe and the small cluster of girls that huddled together. Fear knocked Thundercracker right from the killing edge; his crimson optics wide in shock, every strut frozen.

He risked a glance at Callie, his little blonde charge and felt his tanks twist; her blue eyes were wide in fear, her face as pale as a sheet at Megatron pointed the massive fusion canon at her.

"They have nothing to do with this." Thundercracker sneered, condescending, plating flared wide in a panic. "I didn't think you feared humans Megatron. How far you've fallen."

Starscream actually felt his jaw drop at that jibe, easily seeing that Thundercracker was trying to draw Megatron's attention from the humans to him. Mocking him until his fury broiled over, attacking the object of his displeasure.

Seeing through Thundercracker's attempt at deflecting his attention, Megatron grinned a bitter and cruel grin. "The question why do you care comes to mind Thundercracker. What is so special about these humans?"

Hound and Skywarp were on their pedes, flanking the blue seeker; Hound targeted his weapon at Megatron, but he was too terrified to use it. The teleporter's claws were dripping in his ex-leaders energon blood, poised and ready for attack, his shoulder cannons still locked in the Autobots base.

Thrust's weapon hummed with power on Thundercracker's shoulder, still pointing at Megatron. "What makes you think the humans mean anything to me? I just don't see the point in wasting the energy." the cold, callous voice was back, high and superior.

His own words ripped at him, made him feel ill, but Thundercracker needed Megatron to focus on him and not Callie. He, at least, had armor that had a chance of surviving an attack.

Head tilting to the side, Megatron focused on the mech that was once a lieutenant in his army. "You're pointing a weapon at me, you stand with the Autobots and left your trine leader alone on base. You expect me to believe that you joined the Autobots from the good of your spark? Don't patronize me Thundercracker, these humans have something to do with your disloyalty."

The fusion canon burned hot, still aiming at Callie and her cousins. "This is why you left our fold. This is why you stand with Autobots and Skywarp is just too stupid to do anything but follow you." The young teleporter hissed. "I can see it in your optics Thundercracker." Megatron intoned. "You are so good at hiding things, but when you fail, you crash and burn."

The blue seeker snarled but didn't dare respond or deny the claim; there was no point once Megatron caught wind of something. He needed a new tactic and quick, something to somehow draw Megatron's ire back to him.

"I wonder," Megatron's tone was suddenly pleasant, as though they were talking about the weather and not about to end the lives of five young girls. "Which one is yours Thundercracker?"

The seeker took in a sharp intake of air, weapon never wavering, his optics flicking to where Danny and Callie where trying to shove Liz, Mia and Aleyah behind them, not that it would help any if Megatron fired that fusion canon.

Danny froze at the Decepticon's rough, mocking words, her brown eyes snapping to Callie; the blonde swallowed hard, gripping at Mia's arm tightly, almost painfully. Mia grabbed her cousin's elbow and yanked her back, stepping in front of her as Danny slid in from the side, standing shoulder to shoulder in front of their blonde cousin, trying to protect her.

Thundercracker cursed at the movement, even if he would have done the same in their position, but their actions were a dead giveaway as to who was favored by the strong blue seeker. Megatron grinned down at the girls, his malicious smile showing flat, blunt denta. "Ah, the little blonde is it?"

"If you touch her…" the snarl from Thundercracker rumbled from his chest, the threat left unfinished as Megatron lowered his weapon.

"You'll what, exactly, Thundercracker? Attack me? Risking their pathetic lives, hardly. Maybe kill me?" his voice reached a mocking peak. "I highly doubt it. No, instead, I'm going to pull her limbs from her body and make you watch."

Callie took a sharp breath, stepping backwards while Thundercracker's wings and plating flared aggressively. Megatron just smiled at him, mocking him. "And you'll try to save her, no doubt. And I will stop you, hurt you," he shrugged. "And I'll enjoy it. _Then_ I'll make you watch me pull her limbs from her body anyway."

Thundercracker snarled whilst murmuring low. "Be ready."

The 'bot stood at either side of him gave minute nods as Thundercracker watched Megatron, plotting, looking for a weakness that he could exploit so he could get the humans away. Even injured, the Decepticon leader stood tall, looking unharmed, unhindered.

The blue seeker knew he couldn't sacrifice himself as that would just bring Skywarp down with him. There had to be a way out; but all Thundercracker found himself doing was snarling like a helpless, angry cat at another that had taken its toy.

While Megatron and Thundercracker stared each other down, both waiting for the other to make the first move, Danny swallowed hard. Her mouth went dry as she watched the Decepticons wait each other out; her heart pounding in her chest, cold sweat dripping down her spine, she knew needed to get Callie out of here.

Glancing at Sideswipe, Danny felt dismay at having to leave the Autobot behind but she had to trust that the seekers would get him out of there. Taking a deep breath, Danny quietly murmured to her cousin, the current object of Megatron's homicidal thoughts. "When he's watching me, run."

Callie's head snapped to her cousin, blind panic on her face. "Don't." She hissed.

Danny shook her head, pony tail flipping back and forth. "It's you he's after, and I'm not going to let him take your limbs off! Just go! Don't worry about me, just run!" The car thief hissed at her cousin before taking a step away.

Horror rose from Callie's stomach as Danny slowly, quietly sidestepped away. Some might think she had a death wish, humming a soft tune to calm her nerves; but Danny simply knew the value of sacrifice. Knew there were things worth dying for, dying to protect, and her family was one of those things.

"Danny don't!" Callie hissed back, trying to break Liz's grip and get to her fool hardy cousin.

"Hey Megatron!" she yelled instead, ignoring her cousin. "Megatron!" she hollered again, but she was ignored by all the Cybertronians, not considered a threat or even an irritation.

"Go fuck yourself Megatron!" she snarled, ignoring the pounding of her heart.

That, if anything else, got everyone's attention. Hound stared in open shock, the words _nononononono_ where being whispered on silent lips as he watched in horror. Skywarp and Thundercracker stared in a disturbing mix of awe and fear, tense, waiting for Megatron to attack. As unhinged as he was, he would never tolerate that.

Starscream had yet to move from his frozen spot on the ground, taking in the entire scene with a sense of dread and confusion.

Megatron simply turned to stare at her, confused at the thought that a simple organic creature had the audacity to utter such a vile thing to him. Danny glanced at her cousin, hoping the blonde would be long gone by now and not staring at her in a mix of rage and fear.

"What did you just say to me?"

The demand brought Danny back to Megatron and she realised just how much _larger_ he was than the others, how he projected himself to be bigger than the others. How he was a far more dangerous creature to be toying with.

Most said Danny was too dumb to be afraid of anything but she simply knew that bad people would do bad things, whether you were afraid or not so it was best to play the part of crazy. So, Danny grinned back at him, taking careful steps back. "I didn't stutter. What I said was, Go. Fuck. Yourself. With a giant pink dildo, in fact. I'm sure given enough time I could have one made for you and have it UPS'ed."

The human paused and glanced up in thought. "So yeah. End thought. Go fuck yourself. Pink dildo."

Danny continued to back away from the titan leader as he turned partially to her, the fusion canon aiming more at the pair of seekers than her. "Care to change your tune flesh bag?"

The human grinned back. "Maybe you just didn't understand me. If you listen a little faster, I won't have to speak slower. But in case you missed it…" the girls hands were a flurry around her as she spoke. " _Go fuck yourself._ "

Rage contorted Megatron's face, his wide grey armor flaring out in anger; his attack came fast, faster than his size would suggest, faster than Danny had been anticipating. Her plan had been to escape back the way they came, back through the wreckage of the garage and back out into the city. She knew LA like the back of her hand, and if she had the chance, she was sure she could escape.

The chance never came; Megatron was too fast, came at her too hard for any hope of escape. Thundercracker was right behind him, charging after him and Skywarp was teleporting, trying to cut him off while Hound went for the others, all of whom seemed to be frozen in place.

Danny gasped, turning to run, when she felt Megatron's thick digits brushing along her back, grasping at her brown leather jacket. Suddenly Mia was cutting Danny off. Quiet happy Mia, who everyone always watched, had somehow managed to get away from Callie and was cutting Danny off; her small hands shoving at her sister, pushing her to the ground.

The car thief slammed into the concrete, scrapping her knees and palms as Megatron's digits flew over her, grasping her sister around the middle, squeezing her like a toy. Mia's terrified shriek broke through the all other noise around Danny as Megatron straightened up.

With Mia clamped tightly in one digit, Megatron turned just as Skywarp teleported behind him, to face Thundercracker, and raising the girl up like a shield, the blue seeker skidding to a halt with a snarl.

Scrambling to her small feet, Danny snarled as she stood in front of Skywarp, her nasty cry of "Let her the fuck go! It's me you want!" went ignored by the Decepticon leader as he grinned at Thundercracker.

Giving Mia a small squeeze, putting pressure onto her unprotected hips, the small girl screamed as pain coursed through her, fear causing her to panic and pant. Thundercracker could hear Callie screaming out her cousin's name, the fear and emotional agony ringing in her high voice.

"Let her go." Thundercracker snarled, his borrowed weapon still humming hot at his arm.

Grinning coldly at the blue seeker, Megatron ignored the teleporter behind him along with the cursing human at his pede. "I told you Thundercracker, you will lose everything before I kill you for this betrayal."

The words were spoken in a gentle whisper and he squeezed Mia just a little harder; the pressure became unbearable for the human and she could feel her bones wanting to break and crack, the burning agony spreading down to her knees and up her spine.

Mia screamed out her agony, not even noticing the tears that streamed down her pretty face; her eyes going red, her cheeks puffy and her throat sore from the howling in agony. Megatron grinned again. "Music to my audios. Such soft creatures, aren't they Thundercracker?"

The deranged leader glanced over his shoulder and down to Danny. "I'll kill your little friend here before I kill you. And you'll watch her tumble down to Earth knowing this is your doing, and nothing you do from this point on will save her."

"You bastard! Let her go!" Danny sneered up at him; her brown eyes pinned on Mia's small body as she writhed in pain.

Megatron just smiled, enjoying the situation far too much. "Come Starscream. Let's take this little game of ours to the skies, hmm?"

Skywarp gasped, dropping his frame around the car thief as Megatron's thrusters powered on, dust, smoke and debris rushing with the flames as he took to the sky, Mia still held tight in his grasp.

Thundercracker looked on horrified at the Decepticon; torn between wanting to attack and worry for Mia's life.

Fighting her way from under Skywarp's frame as he protected her from the shooting flames, Danny stared up at the rising Decepticon with a shriek of rage, helpless to do anything else, angry, furious that she had basically gotten Mia killed.

Taking a shuttering vent, Starscream glanced to Megatron's climbing form then to Thundercracker, as the blue seeker plotted to now save Mia. Shaking his helm, Starscream activated his thrusters to follow his master into the sky; shock rippled down the bond from his trine mates, quickly followed by a want, a need from Thundercracker.

A gentle ping from his wing mate told Starscream that Thundercracker wanted to talk. The rising seeker snorted. _Now he wants to talk._

::What?:: The trine leader snapped.

The want and need from Thundercracker spread through Starscream; it was staggering and he flailed slightly in the sky as he struggled to reach Megatron.

::Don't do this Scree. Don't do this, please. Don't let him kill Mia, help us.::

Starscream snorted over the comm. line. ::Mia? You bothered to learn its name?::

::Starscream, please. We need you. We need your help.::

::Funny how you always _need_ me, but I never seem to _need_ you.:: came the sneering reply from the aerial commander.

Fury swept through Thundercracker. ::You mean like those nights when Megatron beat you so badly you didn't remember we were on Earth? You mean those nights? The nights when you hid in our berth just to escape _him_!::

Starscream snarled again as _want/need/please/save her_ still trilled down the trine bonds despite the fury being projected, and he shut down the comm. line with Thundercracker as he rose higher.

Thundercracker snarled and turned to Skywarp. "Starscream won't help us. We need to get her ourselves."

The purple teleporter nodded, determined, listening to his mate's words over the spark bond; a plan already formulating between the two of them. Power shifted to Thundercracker's thrusters as he turned to glare at Danny. "Stay out of trouble damn it!"

The car thief blinked up at him, helpless and unable to do defend her actions, uttering "Please save my sister."

The blue Decepticon snarled again, leaping into the air, tearing after Megatron and his seemingly never ending ascent. He couldn't shoot the titan leader from the sky, not with Mia's small body trapped in his fist.

Cold air whipped past him as Thundercracker flew hard and fast towards Megatron; crimson optics narrowing on the ex-gladiator, focused and intent on getting to Mia.

Megatron watched Thundercracker come head on at him; too much of a coward to fire at him, too soft to risk killing the human. The Decepticon laughed to himself, musing at just how far the seeker's had fallen; now was the time to show Thundercracker just how weak he was. Humiliate him, and the little teleporting fool who was too dumb to realise that standing against him was a death sentence.

Starscream floated behind him, optics dull and distant, dead. He wasn't broken, not yet; even fighting amongst themselves the seekers would feed off each other, draw strength from the trine bond. Slaughtering his wing mates should break that bond rather sufficiently.

"Starscream, catch." Megatron grinned to himself moments before he tossed the small human to the seeker.

Mia shrieked, her small body flailing as Megatron gave a small flick of his wrist and sent the girl cart wheeling across the sky; fear and terror shot through the human's body as the feeling of weightlessness made her stomach churn.

Startled, Starscream caught the human with both servos, her small body slamming into the dull blue plating, skidding across the rough metal. Panting and crying, green eyes sparkling from the fat tears streaming down the girls face.

As Megatron snarled, Mia forced herself onto her hands and knees, tipping her small face up to the dark grey plates of Starscream's face.

Skywarp suddenly teleported behind Megatron, but the titan leader was ready and waiting for the attack. Spinning his large frame, his fist aimed for the seekers soft abdomen, bending the metal. Thundercracker bellowed in rage, firing at Megatron's back with Thrust's weapon; winded, the purple seeker dropped from the sky, his thrusters misfiring as he dragged air in through his vents and mouth.

Snarling, Megatron fired back at the blue seeker, the blast from the fusion canon sending ripples of heat into the air. Dodging the blast, Thundercracker continued his relentless attack, never pausing as Skywarp teleported behind the Decepticon leader once again, claws digging into his leg, going for a thruster.

Floating along the currents of air above the battle, Starscream unemotionally watched his trine mates battle with Megatron, the human still in his palms, and he knew they would lose this fight.

The small human was a trembling ball against the metal of his servo, but swallowing hard, Mia gathered her courage and sat back, tipping her head back up. Green eyes looked up at the seeker who was focused on the battle below; Thundercracker screamed as Megatron crushed the elbow of his weapon mounted arm, the muzzle of Thrust's blaster twisting with it.

Mia flinched at the noise, not even wanting to know what poor Callie was going through. The wind made her curly hair dance and the human found the courage to speak. "M…my name is Mia."

Starscream's red optics flicked down at her, disgusted that she dared to speak to him before going back to the fight below. But Mia was not deterred. "You're Starscream. R…Right?"

He was disgusted by her; her tears, her soft, trembling body that would be destroyed with the wrong move. She wouldn't survive the fall now and couldn't even fly. A pathetic species, these humans were weak and backwards, they were fodder, nothing more.

Starscream went back to watching the fight; even with a broken arm, Thundercracker didn't give up, didn't stop his relentless attacks. Skywarp too was fighting for all he was worth, but it was a losing battle and Starscream could see this.

They would fail, and fall, and that would be the end of it.

"Starscream?" The small, hesitant voice pulled Starscream's optics to the pathetic creature in his servos. The human… _Mia, its name is Mia_ …fought the hitching of her breath. "Th…Thundercracker didn't abandon you."

Red optics suddenly blazed with anger as who Starscream truly was, shone through his ruined mind. "What would you know about it?"

Mia squirmed in his servo, Skywarp's cry of pain ringing through the air. "He…Callie…she…" She gave a small whimper before her quiet voice shook. "Callie saved his life out there. She was helping him. Optimus was helping him. They were p…planning on coming back for you."

Starscream snarled and went back to watching his seekers loose the fight beneath them, determined to ignore the fleshling.

"Please Starscream, don't let them die." That brought Starscream's attention back to the human, his annoyance evident on his face.

Snarling, he snapped. "Would you shut up! I don't have time for your stupidity."

Yet Mia didn't relent. "They were going back for you. Don't let them die. Don't let me die."

A snort slipped from the once proud seeker. "So, it's not them you worry for. You just don't want to die."

Swallowing hard, Mia wished she had an ounce of Callie's sass or Danny's silver tongue, but she was the pretty one, always the distraction; never the one to calm a situation down, never really _useful_. "Of course I don't want to die Starscream. But neither do Thundercracker or Skywarp. They just want to take you home with the rest of us."

"Home!" the seeker snarled, more of the real him coming to the surface. "What is _home_ for you?"

Mia flinched at his rough tone, fighting against the want to curl into a ball again. "Home is a…at the _Ark,_ I guess."

Rolling red optics, Starscream sighed angrily. "And tell me girl, why would I join my enemies?"

Mia wrung her small hands, trying to be as small as possible under the seeker's scrutinizing gaze. Another agonizing scream ripped from one of Starscream's wing mates, but Mia couldn't be sure which. "They're not just fighting to get me back. They _want_ you back too Starscream."

The seeker huffed in annoyance, trying to narrow the trine bonds and stop the _want/please/trine/love/help_ that was coming from the other two. But no matter how hard he tried to push them out, they fought just as hard to keep inside his processor.

"Starscream, please, help them." Her desperate plea fell on deaf audios.

The battle below continued, unrelenting and hard, the two seekers taking far more damage than Megatron. It wasn't until the massive, cruel Decepticon finally caught Skywarp by a wing did things take another turn for the worse. With a large grey servo wrapped around the purple wing, Megatron twisted as hard as he could.

Skywarp screeched in agony as his wing was torn right from his back and with the bonds wide open, every moment of his agony rippled down the spark bond to Thundercracker; metal separating and wires being torn out before Skywarp's side of the bond slammed shut.

Thundercracker howled in his shared pain, servo snapping to his undamaged wing, clinging on to it, even when only phantom pains rippled through his sensor net.

Dropping Skywarp's damaged wing, Megatron gripped the panting Decepticon by the throat whilst staring at Thundercracker in confusion. Blood red optics flashed in sudden understanding, optics sliding between the gasping seeker in his servos and the other that was forcing his frame to straighten.

"Bond mates?" Megatron snarled, rage ripping through him. "You're bond mates? Are you so stupid that you bound your life energy to this pathetic little creature!?"

Thundercracker opened a line to Starscream, hoping to convince his wing leader. ::Starscream. Please help us.::

The tri colored seeker just stared, Mia sobbing gently in his servos.

"Megatron." Thundercracker snarled, carefully watching his mate writhe in his servos, wanting to threaten, but at a loss as what to do.

The titan leader grinned, one servo sliding down the purple seeker's front, grasping the teleporter's heel, crushing the thruster in his massive grip.

Skywarp thrashed, crying out, pain flaring out as the thruster died in Megatron's servo. Suddenly, Megatron released Skywarp and for a split second, the bond mates echoed each other's fear and worry. Terror flashed through the younger seeker's optics astroseconds before gravity dragged him towards the ground. Flailing helplessly in the air, he fell to the earth like a stone, a single thruster unable to sustain flight.

" _TC!"_ Was cried both out loud and along the bond as Skywarp plummeted. Thundercracker moved to catch him when a spike of _fear/dodge/move!_ flooded the trine bonds from Starscream.

The trine leader watched in wide opticed shock as Megatron slammed bodily into the smaller frame of the seeker; the pair tumbled in the air as the titan Decepticon did the same to Thundercracker and crushed a single thruster, pulling the blue seeker close, pressing them chest to chest.

Struggling against the ex-gladiator, Thundercracker was helpless with a single crushed thruster and broken arm; even whole, the blue seeker would have had problems breaking the tight hold of the large abusive mech.

Breathing hard and heavy into Thundercracker's audio, Megatron leaned in close, his hot, puffing vents ghosting disgustingly across damaged, grey facial plating. "I'm going to kill your humans, starting with that one." He taunted as he pointed to Mia. "Then I'm going to kill _your_ little human and her family. Then I'm going to drag your sorry aft back to the _Nemesis_ with Skywarp, and I am going to do horrible things to you Thundercracker."

Megatron's ruby optics sparkled in sickening glee at the thought. "I am going to make you hurt. Make you beg for it to stop. I'm going to make Skywarp watch and I'm going to make Starscream watch. You're going to die _screaming_ Thundercracker."

The blue seeker struggled harder, groaning and panting with the effort. Megatron grinned back at him, the back of his digits petting Thundercracker's cheek in a mockery of gentleness. "Shh, shhh now little seeker." His voice was deranged and broken as he spoke to the seeker. "Don't you want to know how this ends?"

::Please Starscream...::

"I'm going to rip your fucking spark out!" The seeker spat as Megatron began squeezing, denting Thundercracker's vents.

Snorting, Megatron leaned closer to the blue seekers audio. "I'm going to kill you Thundercracker. That's what's going to happen. Then I'm going to have the pleasure of watching Skywarp fade away to nothing."

Thundercracker roared, rage coursing through him but Megatron only laughed. "Maybe I'll play with the little seeker, see what all the fuss is about."

"If you fucking touch him..." the treat was cut off by another hard squeeze from the larger Decepticon.

"And all the while, Starscream will watch and do nothing."

Pleading over the comm. lines, Thundercracker didn't stop trying, ::Scree please...::

Megatron's voice dropped an octave. "He's mine now. He won't help you any more little seeker. And it was you who pushed him to me."

Thundercracker jammed his optics shut, guilt coinciding with the pain, knowing that Megatron was at least, partially right about that, but the blue seeker knew how to reach to his trine mate.

_Love/Sorry/Sorry/Sorry/Please help/Sorry!_ Thrummed down the trine bond and Thundercracker tried again, ::Starscream, I'm sorry. Be mad at me but don't let this happen.::

"Do me a favor," Megatron's words were cold. "And remember what the girl sounds like when she goes splat." And he let go.

Panic swept through Thundercracker as he fell, unable to stay airborne. Sending all power to the single working thruster, the blue seeker controlled his long, flailing fall, slamming into the ground rather hard on his pedes instead of crashing face first into the ground.

Hound already had Skywarp sitting up, closing lines and trying to keep the purple seeker from passing out from the damage; Sideswipe was still unconscious, nearly completely dead to the world. Danny had made her way back to the cluster of girls, her brown eyes full of guilt and fear as she watched the deranged Decepticon and seeker floating in the air with her little sister.

Callie ran to Thundercracker in a panic, her wide blue eyes pleading with her seeker guard to do something and it nearly killed him that he was helpless, grounded.

"Callie." He whined softly, knowing the day was lost and they were all going to die. "Run, get out of here."

The blonde's head shook no, gathering her waning courage, pressing her hands to his blue knee strut, her small voice began to gather strength. "Bad things are going to happen. Running isn't going to stop that."

Frowning, nearly whimpering, Thundercracker brushed his digits along the top of Callie's head affectionately; his optics pinned on the sky above.

_Fear/Please/Sorry!_ Pulsed gently down the trine bonds again, and Thundercracker tried yet again. ::Please Starscream, don't let this happen.::

Megatron floated higher to the tri colored seeker, barking an order to fly higher with the human. Mia curled into a tight ball, her small hands clinging to the cracks and seams in the seeker's servos; they were curled around her like a protective bubble.

::Don't let Megatron win.::

Starscream tried to ignore his trine mate, flying higher.

::Don't kill Mia.::

Higher and higher they went while Thundercracker and Skywarp stared helpless from the ground.

::She had nothing to do with this.::

Higher still.

::You're better than this Scree. No matter what he tells you, you're better than this.::

Starscream's vents hitched, yet higher he went.

::Don't let him drag you down to his level.::

High in the sky, high enough that humans could have gone sky diving safely, Megatron ordered the halt. Mia shuttered, curling tighter into her small ball, the thick stench of fear rolling off her. It was so icy cold at that height, her skin began to redden and goose bumps prickled her thin skin.

::You're better than this. You always were Starscream. You've just forgotten.::

Megatron grinned down at the damaged seekers, proud at what he had done.

::We love you Scree, and we would never have left you with him.::

"This is over now. You belong to me now." Megatron said softly, still staring down at the broken 'bots he had left in his wake.

Starscream looked up, startled at his leader's cruel words, the rage returning, the protectiveness returning to his spark; unconsciously pulling Mia closer to his body, optics narrowing.

::I'm sorry Starscream. I am so sorry, for everything. I know we should have told you we were going to bond.:: The true root of Starscream's pain. ::And I'm sorry Scree but I swear that if you stand with us today, join us, we will never leave you again. We love you, please just come home with us.::

Emotion swamped Starscream, causing some of the rage and anger at his trine mates to loosen from his spark, the want to save Mia, the want to save him, filtering in through the trine bonds.

Megatron's wide servo wrapped around Starscream's wrist, forcing him to tip his servo; Mia screamed as she tumbled from Starscream's dull blue servo and into the grey one of the Decepticon leader.

"You belong to me again Starscream." The titan mocked as he watched Mia scramble away from the base of his palm, her back against his curled digits.

Black rage pushed out the soft feeling for his trine mates, his hatred for Megatron coming back tenfold and his null ray's heated up with his anger. Old memories of past hurt and abuse flooded to the surface, only serving to enrage the Decepticon flyer even more.

"And once I kill your trine, you will realise how right I am." Megatron laughed softly, flattening his servo, laughing harder when Mia squealed and dug her small fingers into the seams of his digit.

Hatred spread throughout Starscream's spark, fists clenching, null rays powering high, humming softy.

::Please Starscream.:: Came Thundercracker's pleading voice over the comm. lines, adding more fuel to the fire, another voice in Starscream's head.

Megatron began to tip his servo, the small human clinging for her life with the very tips of her fingers.

"You are mine Starscream and the sooner you realise this, the sooner you'll be happy. Perhaps I shall even allow you to help me destroy your trine. Break the bond once and for all."

Continuing to tip his servo, Mia cried softly, clinging to the digit as tightly as she could, her small hands slipping from her sweat of fear.

Whether it was the humans gentle crying, Thundercracker's pleading words or Megatron's cruel ones, Starscream couldn't be sure but something cracked inside, something deep inside that made the seeker's spark grow cold. He plummeted down past the killing edge in the span of a spark beat, riding it so keenly, it would seem like madness.

Megatron laughed as Mia's terrified scream ripped from her small body, so high pitched that it cracked and broke. The seeker watched the steady movement of his leader's servo, crimson optics brightening in rage and hate.

Everything slowed down for the seeker, time meant nothing to him as he watched Mia's grip slip on Megatron's digit; she shrieked, panic flaring through her, her bright green eyes wide in fear. She was going to die, she knew it, unless a miracle happened, she was dead.

Her small body floundered as Mia slid across Megatron's digits and into open air. Screaming again, her green eyes pleaded with Starscream to save her as she plummeted to the earth far below. Starscream could see her small body kicking out at open air, but there was nothing to grab onto.

_Horror/fear/please!please!please!_ Filled the bond from both Skywarp and Thundercracker as they watched the small girl's body came screaming back to earth.

Starscream levelled his null ray at the back of Megatron's helm, pain ripping through his injured side, but he ignored it, letting the numbness creep in, take over. The seeker grinned, sneering at his leader. "Trine always comes first."

Megatron turned to snarl at his second in command, turned to put him back in his place, and was completely caught off guard when the bright purple light of Starscream's null ray burst from the muzzle of his weapon.

The titan leader roared in agony. The attack wouldn't kill him but it would knock him from the sky for a time. Megatron's thrusters cut out as he grabbed his face, the soft silicon melting from the heat of the attack. Then the titan fell from the sky, just as readily as Mia.

Starscream didn't think, he just reacted, followed his instincts, did what his trine begged him to do as he let his upper body fall, swan diving after the falling girl, ignoring his falling master in favor of the human. Hope and amazement trilled down the trine bond moments before pride came from his trine mates.

Starscream ignored it all as he dove for the girl; thrusters powering high and hard, he went after Mia. Her curled hair floated around her head, her arms reaching out for him, hoping and begging that he'd make it.

Pushing his thrusters harder, faster, until they hit one hundred percent capacity; agony ripped through the seeker's frame as the rusted patch ripped off in a rush of wind. His tank ruptured and energon poured from the wound while the rushing wind made his optics burn, optical fluid leaking.

He would do this for his trine, for Skywarp and Thundercracker. He would save the human femme who called herself Mia, bring pride back to the trine; remember what the meaning of trine meant.

He ignored all the physical pain, he was so close. Stretching out his arms, his digits brushed her flailing body before wrapping his servos around her, pulling the girl tight to his chest plates. Flipping right side up, Starscream put as much power into his thrusters as he could, not slowing down nearly enough to save the girls life.

Grunting and snarling with the effort, the wound in his side ripped wider and Starscream red lined his thrusters; after burners working harder, extra energon flooding the chamber in an effort to slow down his descent, blue and purple flames flaring wide from his thrusters.

The extra effort paid off as Starscream slowed; his vision swam with the effort, his body numb from the pain, part with the loss of energon, part exhaustion. Energon streamed from the wound, the damage to his tanks far too great for his auto repair to close.

Slowing further, the seeker held the girl closer to his undamaged chest, cupping her small body with both of his servos, ensuring that the hard, biting winds didn't gust her from his hold. Just as Starscream fell past the top of the first tall skyscraper, the pathetic little humans watching in awe from the windows, he finally caught himself and stopped his hard decent.

Shock rippled through his systems from the fact he had managed to do it, pride from his trine and himself mingled together and below him he could hear not only Thundercracker and Skywarp cheering for him, but the humans small, high pitched voices as well as Hound's.

Hovering, a shaky smile crossed the air commanders mouth, still somewhat shocked that he had done it; not only had he managed to save the human but had shot Megatron in the face as well. A sick sort of glee burned hot through his systems, a dark laugh bubbling up from his chest.

Squashing the laughter, Starscream eased one servo away from Mia's small, trembling form so he could clamp it to his side. The other remained curled around her, leaving a gap near the top of his servo so he could look down at her.

When she tipped her small face towards his, her face was red, her eyes puffy and blood shot, but as relief spread through her small body a sloppy smile spread across her face. Pearly white teeth gleamed in the sun, which suddenly seemed so much more beautiful, and a soft pretty laugh rang from her.

Starscream grinned stupidly back at her, giddy that he had done it, excitement dancing through his frame.

Panting, Mia pressed her small head to Starscream's cockpit with a small laugh and sigh. "Thank you Starscream. Thank you."

Gaining control of his bursting pride in himself, Starscream gave her a small, hesitant grin back and a nod.

"Can we get down now? I think I'm done playing in the sky for now." Mia said, her grin spread across her face, but her small body still trembled.

Snorting at her, Starscream quirked a brow as he ignored his drained systems, the warnings that flashed in his HUD and slowly cutting power to his thrusters, Starscream began to lower himself to the ground in a controlled landing. One servo was still clamped to his side, energon spilling over his digits. "I don't think you were really playing," His sneering, mocking tone coming back. "It was more of a fall…"

Pain ripped suddenly through Starscream's systems, alarms and warnings blazing red in his HUD, screaming at him that he had been hit from behind. His once red and white wings burned and broke, shearing off from the explosion. A scream ripped from Starscream's throat and he could smell his own burning metal while his paint bubbled and wires melted.

Mia screamed and he clamped his other servo around her as the force of the explosion threw Starscream away from where his trine stood watching in horror, sending him tumbling through the air and towards the ground, still so far below.

Faster and faster Starscream fell horizontally, the ground coming up at him in a sickening rush. Knowing there was nothing more he could do, the seeker curled his damaged frame around the fragile human femme that was screaming in his servos.

Slamming shoulder first into the concrete, far from where his trine stood, their fear and anxiety slamming from the others in his trine, Starscream's shoulder caved in as he skidded across the ground before coming to a painful stop, lying in a ball of agony. The nubs from where his wings once stood out proud and true, twitched and bled.

The arm he had landed on was a twisted mess beneath him and the wound at his side, ripped open even further, sending trails of agony through his body. His forearm had snapped in half, the now lifeless servo still wrapped around Mia in a desperate attempt to keep her safe.

With vision swirling, blacking out, Starscream forced the digits of his one good servo to open, terrified what he may find clenched in his hold. Mia peered back at him, a lump on her forehead from where her delicate head slammed into the metal of his servo. Blood tricked down from her forehead and lip while her one arm hung lamely at her side, looking as though it was dislocated.

Working his jaw, Starscream tried to ask if she was okay, but only static came out as his vision swam. Green eyes blinked back at him, wide and blank, and somewhere in the back of Starscream's processor he knew she was in shock.

Her pale face was even more chalky white, the blood on her face looking almost crimson in comparison. He could feel her tiny body shaking, and she managed to mutter _cold_. Mia blinked a few times, the blankness dissipating as she tried to focus on what was happening around her.

Starscream tried to speak again, managing only a weak whine and chirr, his systems trying to reboot his vocalizer.

Something heavy landed close to where Starscream lay, barely hanging on to consciousness. Fear throbbed with the pain, shooting down the trine bonds and Mia looked up at what was behind the damaged seeker, panic and terror written over her small face and in her green eyes.

Starscream tried, tried so hard to stay awake, but as the blackness came in, Megatron's cold voice rang above him. "You'll pay for that Starscream." Then his processor shut down for a forced reboot.

()()()

Optimus Prime watched in a mix of horror and disbelief as Starscream fell from the sky after his incredible dive for Mia. The Prime watched the seeker's rapid decent to Earth, his spark doing a terrible dance behind his chest plates; he thought of Starscream's trine who had tried so hard to save him, of the humans who had come to love the seekers.

Optimus thought of how much it was going to hurt when Starscream hit the ground and how Megatron would get to him first. When the seeker hit the ground, the Prime could feel the slight tremors of the impact and winced.

Stunned, all Optimus could do was watch Megatron's slow decent to Earth, one servo clamped over half of his damaged face. Making a dark, gurgling noise in the back of his throat, Optimus quickly gathered his thoughts. They were still looking for the others, but Starscream needed help first.

::We got comms back on line!:: Blaster's strained voice suddenly crackled over the Autobot comm. lines, sounding as stressed as Optimus felt.

The lines became a noise of activity as Hound and Mirage made contact simultaneously, reporting their locations and status. Silently, Optimus took in all the information, his processor running hot and fast as he figured out which groups to send where, where they would be the most useful.

Spinning to face his sub commanders, Optimus issued orders. "Prowl, take your team and locate Hound. The seekers are with him, comm. Hound and ensure the seekers stay with him and the humans."

Prowl nodded, already contacting the tracker to issue the order. Optimus then turned to Jazz. "Jazz, take your team, find Mirage and Ironhide. Skyfire will need medical aid."

"Right sir." Jazz gave a crisp salute, no joking while in the field. He nodded to his team before running in the direction of their mechs.

Sunstreaker twitched and nearly writhed in worry next to Prowl, waiting for word on his twin. "What does Hound say about Sides?" Came his harsh, angry demand.

Glancing at his adoptive youngling, Prowl nodded. "He's damaged, but alive."

"I could have told you that!" Sunstreaker snarled; voice hard and angry while he worried.

Prowl ignored the frontliner's snapping tone. "Sunstreaker, lead the rest of the unit to Hound's location. I'll catch up in a moment." The golden mech hesitated, icy blue optics leery and worried. "Go. I'll be there in a moment."

Sighing, Sunstreaker nodded, before roughly saying. "Let's move mechs." Before he turned and made his way to Hound and his twin.

Once Sunstreaker was out of audial shot, the mechs and humans that were part of Prowl's unit moving quickly, it was Lennox who asked the question. "Where are you going Optimus?"

The Prime looked down to his human comrade. "To find Starscream and Mia. They will need help and we simply don't have the numbers to split our groups any smaller."

"You can't go alone Optimus." Prowl's agitated tone snapped out, intending to say more.

Optimus cut him off. "It is not ideal Prowl, but we don't have a choice right now." He glanced down at Lennox. "And I thank you for your concern Will, but Starscream will not have the strength to fight Megatron off this time."

Will and Prowl shared a worried look, intending on arguing when Optimus cut them off before they started. "And I understand both of your concerns but now we all must do what is necessary. Now you two need to get going, Sunstreaker, although capable, is still too young to handle this on his own and will be distraught with his twin so hurt."

Prowl and Lennox shared another worried look before the human sighed, nodded and ran after the gold mech. Prowl held his Prime's optics a beat longer, saying. "Be safe Optimus." Before he turned and followed the human.

Optimus nodded, muttering "You too Prowl." Before the Prime turned and ran for where Starscream went down, it really wasn't that far, praying he made it in time.

()()()

Horrified and helpless, Thundercracker felt anguish race through his systems as he stared off in the direction that Starscream went down with Mia. Callie was by his knee, frozen in a state of terror and behind the seeker, one of the girls, Liz he thought, was sobbing.

Danny was standing, numb and blank, beside her blonde cousin, knowing that if Mia was dead, it would be her fault.

Shaking, Thundercracker could barely hear Hound telling them to stay put, that help was finally on the way. Skywarp crawled to his mate, collapsing in the blue seeker's hold, clinging to him, shaking; quietly crying when Starscream didn't respond to the gentle prodding along the trine bond.

All Thundercracker could do was hope someone made it in time to save his trine leader.

()()()

A kick to the back of his helm brought Starscream back to the world of the living, his vision blurring and spinning, Mia's small trembling body in his servo. Starscream knew who was behind him, knew what would happen to him the moment he turned to glance at his attacker.

Opening his single working servo, Starscream ignored the agony and his spinning processor, as he eased Mia to the ground. His voice was rough and weak, scratchier than normal as he whispered. "Run. Get out of here. I'll keep him amused."

Megatron could hear that Starscream was speaking, but not what he was saying and snarling, he gave Starscream another hard kick. The seeker jerked and grunted, still hunched over the human. "Run. Go." He muttered, energon leaking from the corner of his mouth.

Mia stared up at Starscream, terrified at what was about to happen, having no choice but to run. As the seeker turned to look up at the Decepticon leader, Mia ran, limping, for the cover of a building. The fact that she was not dead was not lost on the girl; tears streamed down her face as she left Starscream, but not going far, she hid in an ally.

She wouldn't abandon Starscream completely, she thought as she knelt at the mouth of the ally, watching, not when he struggled to save her.

Starscream turned, leaning hard on his one good elbow, looking up into Megatron's angry face, half of it melted and dripping, the bare protoform black and burnt beneath. It was a horrifying sight even before one stared into those angry, bright red baleful optics, full of rage and hate.

"Master, wait…" whatever Starscream was going to say was lost when the larger Decepticon snarled, wrapping a servo around the seekers delicate throat, lifting him up.

"You will pay for this Starscream." Megatron snarled, energon flicking against the seeker's face. "You will die screaming right along with your slagging trine!"

"M…master, wait!" Starscream's pleading fell on deaf audio's as the war lord dug his digits deep into the seeker's side, using the wound that was already there to scrape along the cracked tank.

The seeker choked back a cry of pain and Megatron laughed, pressing digits hard into the crack, causing the metal to bend and pop. Starscream swallowed the scream that worked up from his vocalizer and Megatron's thumb stroked the seeker's throat gently, almost like a lover; it could have been confusing had the grip at Starscream's throat not been so hard.

"You better pray you die before we get back to the _Nemesis_ , because if you don't, I swear you'll wish you had." Megatron hissed.

Starscream hissed, the sound gravelly; he knew he wouldn't die before then. He was too strong willed to die now and black rage gave the seeker the much needed boost. "What? Too pathetic and weak to do it yourself? Going to make Soundwave do it when we get back!"

Red optics widened at the seeker's words, and with a snarl, Megatron ripped his servo from the seeker's abdomen. Covered in Starscream's blood energon, the larger Decepticon buried his tightly closed fist into the middle of Starscream's abdomen.

Coughing and gasping for air, Starscream fought back the cry of agony and laughed instead. "Getting weak in your old age _master_?" The seeker spat, sarcastically. "I have to admit that throwing me up on hooks was rather clever, but I'm left wondering if that was even your idea."

If Starscream kept Megatron entertained long enough, maybe Mia and his trine would get away. Megaton slammed his fist into his cockpit the second time, the glass shattering on impact. In a daze, Starscream wondered how it had survived the fall.

"Insignificant little glitch!" Megatron snarled; half his mouth drooping and spitting energon and oral lubricant. "I'm going to make sure you make it back to the _Nemesis_ and have Hook repair you, just to watch you scream in pain before you die. "

Starscream laughed bitterly, hate and rage aimed at Megatron. "Then do it, _master_!"

Snarling, Megatron raised his fist to smash the seeker's handsome face; to break his nose and flatten the high cheek structure. The Decepticon leader would enjoy it to, watching the seeker's good looks being smashed to nothing by his fist. He'd break the seeker again, would enjoy it all the more. Mia was still watching, terrified in the ally. Megatron would capture her too and he would make her watch her savoir crumble at his massive servo.

Yes, Megatron thought to himself, he'd enjoy that. Enjoy the sense of helplessness, hopelessness.

Fist poised and ready to destroy the seeker, Megatron laughed darkly when a large servo wrapped around the titan's wrist and tore him from the seeker.

Tossing the Decepticon away from the flier, Optimus Prime snarled as he put his body between Megatron and Starscream. Had the situation been different, it would have been almost comical; both the seeker and the Decepticon leader were staring at the Prime in a mix of surprise and confusion.

Recovering slightly quicker than his master, Starscream laughed darkly, drawing the attention of both leaders. Red optics flickering white in pain and distress, Starscream's croaky, shaky voice floated to the Prime. "I take it Thundercracker wasn't lying then?"

Turning his attention back to Megatron as the warrior slowly got to his pedes, Optimus's helm shook no. "Thundercracker was quite concerned about you and had been hoping to find you outside the battle field." Optimus held Megatron's optics, refusing to back down. "But such as it is, this will do."

Starscream sighed dramatically, allowing his frame to fall back down. "Fine. Whatever, I surrender then. Go at him."

Megatron snarled, fists clenching. "The seeker is mine Optimus," Starscream looked back up, suddenly nervous that the Prime would leave him. "Take your human and leave."

Mia squeaked from her spot in the ally, her head shaking no, blood still running down her forehead and face. Optimus kept his cool gaze on the Decepticon leader, body loose and ready for a fight. "Starscream has surrendered. He comes with me." No questions asked, cut and dry, as far as Optimus was concerned.

Relief spread throughout both Mia and Starscream while rage coursed through Megatron. "Starscream belongs to me! He is mine to do what I wish to!"

Optimus was like an immovable object when on the battle field; cold, solid and hard. "Starscream has made his decision Megatron. He leaves with me."

With his rage still rampant, and despite his injuries, the massive Decepticon charged the Autobot. Blue optics narrowed coldly on the large grey warrior, dropping back into a defensive pose; pushing a leg out behind him, knees bent and arms up.

Bellowing in rage, Megatron raised the same fist that had crushed Starscream's chest with, to strike the Prime's face, but the Decepticon leader was damaged, his optics flickering as they tried to focus. If Optimus ever had a chance to end the war, it was now. However, despite the damage to his face and shoulders, Megatron was still a warrior to be contended with, and a hit from the titan fist would do damage.

As the grey fist tried to slam into the Prime's face, Optimus dodged it, dropping down low before spinning around and behind Megatron. Slamming his own cobalt blue fist into the side of Megatron's face, shattering the more undamaged optic, Optimus sent the Decepticon spilling to the ground. Snarling, Megatron turned to face the Prime, glaring up at him, his single working optic peering up at him from his ruined face.

A cool calm over took Optimus; the Prime hated killing, detested it really but he understood the need for it. The death of a single mech could bring peace to his people, releasing them from their never ending war. Curling his fists, the calmness beat out the guilt and Optimus's even steps brought him to Megatron.

Weapon snapping from sub space, Optimus slammed his pede onto the arm that held the fusion canon and levelling his own weapon at Megatron's helm, the Prime met the titan's glare with his own. "This ends today Megatron." Optimus said softly; so much death, destruction, hurt had brought them to this point and Optimus would end this today, would do it to protect his Autobots, to protect the few Decepticons who asked for it.

Power pooled at the tip of the Prime's heavy gun, ready to use it, ready to end the war.

"Do it Prime, if you really think you can." Megatron sneered, his voice mocking.

Optimus's digit twitched on the trigger, preparing to pull it, when a cold, unemotional voice called out.

"Desist." Soundwave called out, standing tall and unharmed, his canon pointing at Starscream and Mia.

Optimus pulled his digit away from the trigger, resting it along the side of his gun with a frown. Megatron laughed darkly from the ground. "It seems today is not my day to die Prime. Maybe next time then?"

A soft noise, almost a growl came from the Prime as he glowered at the communications commander. "Megatron for the girl and Starscream."

Soundwave nodded, canon sill pointing at the injured flier and the girl. "Affirmative."

Megatron laughed again as Optimus took a step to the side, slowly side stepping to Starscream while Soundwave did the same, making his way to Megatron.

"Letting me live for that traitorous little slime bucket Prime? He's hardly worth the effort. Should have let Soundwave kill him and be done with it." Megatron derided. "No matter, there are plenty of other Decepticons to play the whipping boy for me. Take the damaged flier, he's useless anyway."

From his peripheral vision, Optimus could see Starscream flinch, but the angry snarl covered it well enough. Finally the Autobot leader came to a standstill in front of Starscream, weapon still pointed at Megatron.

Soundwave did the same for this master, moving slowly as he wrapped an arm around the grey mech's waist and heaved him to his pedes. Soundwave ordered the retreat as he powered his thrusters, taking to the sky, dragging his master with him; the mocking laughter still falling from Megatron's lips.

"Have fun with him Prime, try not to break him. I want that pleasure once you've put him back together."

Optimus glared, weapon still levelled at the Decepticon and the communications specialist, refusing to dignify the contemptuous words with a response.

The Prime and the damaged seeker watched as Soundwave hauled Megatron higher into the sky and away from Los Angeles. Only when they could no longer see them, did Optimus turn to look at Starscream. The seeker had managed to sit up, his undamaged servo clamped to his side, trying to stop the leak from his tank.

Mia slowly came from the ally, terrified and crying, but steady on her small feet.

Tucking his weapon back into subspace, Optimus knelt beside Starscream. The seeker watched him with wary, exhausted optics and Optimus moved slowly, servos up to show he meant no harm.

Mia now stood on Starscream's other side, her small, shaking body pressing into the seeker's hip, terrified for her saviours wellbeing.

Voice soft and gentle, Optimus ensured to catch the seeker's dull red optics. "Starscream, I need to see the damage done to your tank."

The bright blue servo gently lay atop the dull one that tried to cover the damage; a thumb running gently along Starscream's in what the Prime hoped was comfort.

Growling softly, the seeker allowed the Autobot to remove his servo, his red optics nearly screaming with worry and distrust. Optimus ignored the seeker's grumbling and carefully peered into the hole at Starscream's side with a wince; even with his minimal knowledge of battle field repair, Optimus knew this was bad.

The crack in his tank was long and thick, the energon leaking in a slow but steady flow. Glancing at the Decepticon, catching the seeker's optics, Optimus brought a small vial of nanites from subspace. "This is only a patch, but it will ensure you don't bleed dry before we make it back to the _Ark_. It will…"

Starscream snorted and lay back, stretching out as much as he could to give Optimus full access to his wound. "I know how nanites work Prime!" came the sneer from the seeker. "I am more than aware of their limitations and their capabilities. Just do it."

"It's also going to hurt Starscream."

Another snort came from the seeker. "Just do it and take me to my trine." His vision was already swimming.

Optimus nodded, turning his attention to Mia. "Step back Mia, he may thrash and hurt you."

The human bit her lower lip, worried as she took a step back and away from the seeker.

"Are you ready?" Optimus asked, giving the nanites a quick shake, activating them.

A snarl was his answer, Starscream's frame hot and taunt beneath him. Moving as gently as he could, Optimus poured the nanites along the crack in the tank, and waited for the reaction.

Mia screamed in terror as Starscream started thrashing; burning agony spreading along his tank and through his body as the nanites knitted the edges of the crack together. The seeker managed to swallow another scream, but not the whimper as his frame shook and trembled.

Optimus couldn't do it, couldn't sit by and watch the flier writhe in agony while the nanites did their work so the Prime hauled the seeker up and against his chest, circling his arms around the red and white trembling body.

Vision swimming and blacking, Starscream didn't care who held him as the nanites burned, getting hotter and hotter, reaching their peak of effectiveness. The seeker clung to the Prime and a static whine broke from the flier as he buried his face into the wide chest plates, mouth working in a silent scream of agony.

The pain and burning finally ebbed away, leaving Starscream panting weakly and clinging to the Prime. Optimus kept his servos where they were, arms wrapped around the seeker in a tight hold.

Starscream could hear the Prime say something, but the words were lost as the seeker's systems worked hard to reset themselves. He could feel the Autobot leader laying him back down, could feel the gentle servos probing at the leaking lines in his arm and broken wings. Through the haze, he was aware that Optimus was closing off the lines to his injured limbs.

When his audios finally reset, Starscream could hear Optimus's gentle rumbling voice calling to Mia, telling her to come here. Fighting against his frame's want to shut down, to rest and recover, Starscream watched the Prime pick the girl up gently and place her on a wide red shoulder.

Turning his attention back to the seeker, Starscream forced his optics to focus as Optimus slid one arm under his knees and the other around his shoulders. Moving with more gentleness than Starscream was used to, Optimus lifted him up and against his chest, his frame warm and some distant thought broke through Starscream's haze, his EM field soft and fuzzy against the Prime's own field; warm and soft.

Audio pressing into the Prime's chest, listening to the gentle rumble of his engine, Starscream fought to stay conscious, to stay awake as the Prime carried him to only Primus knew where. The scenery became a blur, mere flashes of blue sky and broken buildings; heat from fires licked across the seeker's damaged plating, but it was ignored.

Blackness was creeping in from the sides of his vision again, but Starscream forced himself to function, to focus. He could hear the muffled voices of others suddenly, panicky and angry. They were close, his processor told him, but they sounded so far away. Like someone had shoved cotton in his audios, everything was muffled.

He was suddenly being shifted, passed off to someone else. His helm lolled to the side, the strength to hold it up leaving him rapidly. The nanites had taken more out of him than he was willing to admit to.

When Thundercracker's worried crimson optics looked down on him, Starscream felt relief spread through his systems. His blue counterpart was trying to say something to him, but none of it made it to the trine leader. Even the trine bond felt thick and fuzzy, like the feelings were being forced to wade through a swamp to get to him.

Another set of servos was touching him, petting his helm and cheeks and Skywarp's worried optics hovered overhead with Thundercracker's. Blackness crept in, and Starscream stopped fighting it. So long as he was with his trine, he'd be fine.

Blackness finally won out and Starscream's processor finally shut down.

()()()

Thundercracker sighed as he sat back in his chair, repaired and well, watching his commander lay unmoving on the Autobot medical berth.

Skywarp, just as well, had his helm laid against Starscream's berth, his servos tucked under his chin as he watched his commander. Sideswipe was sitting backwards on a high back chair, his own healthy red arms slung over the back, his helm resting on his forearms.

The two self-proclaimed prank kings were talking in low, hushed voices, worried that the trine leader wouldn't wake.

Ratchet had done all he could and repaired Starscream, the commander was as good as new, yet he had not woken from stasis for the past week and a half. The medic suspected it was due the traumatic experiences of those few days, and all Starscream needed was time for his processor to digest what had happened.

It made waiting agony for the worried seekers, and they had spent the last few days sitting in the med bay, hoping Starscream would just wake up. Ratchet had been surprisingly patient with them, letting the two come and go as they pleased, ensuring that at least one of them was in the med bay at all times, there to comfort their trine leader when he woke.

As the days dragged on, even Ratchet grew concerned, worried that maybe Starscream wouldn't wake up, that maybe the damage was just too much for this processor to handle.

Thundercracker didn't believe it; Starscream was made of tougher stuff and he'd wake. The blue seeker didn't doubt that for a moment, but the wait might kill him.

Leaning back with his pedes up on the empty berth that once held Skyfire, the shuttle being released days ago, Thundercracker sighed. He and Skywarp had proven themselves to the Prime, had proven themselves worthy. Had fought for, and alongside, Autobots for a common goal, and had come out on top for once.

They had won the day, brought pride and honor back to his trine, had rescued Callie and her foolish family. Optimus had been proud of the two seekers, had thanked them for their help; and although they were not fully trusted yet, they were free to roam the base, their weapons returned to them, with strict orders to behave.

Red Alert had thrown a fit, nearly sent himself into stasis, but Prowl had agreed with the Prime. The blue and purple seekers had proven themselves worthy, the first embers of trust flaring alive.

It was almost a perfect ending; they were so close, if only Starscream would wake up.

Callie shifted on Thundercracker's lap, a book in her own as she looked up to watch the other three mechs in the room. Just as the blue seeker hadn't left the med bay, Callie hadn't left Thundercracker; offering the support she could, hoping that the trine leader would wake as well.

Mia would stop by, battered and bruised, she would limp to the med bay every day to see if her savour had woken, wanting to thank him properly. Danny would always be with her, a silent guard by her sister's side, her regret easily read in the car thief's brown eyes.

It had been her foolish words that had nearly gotten her sister killed, and the girl seemed to be fighting with herself in order to forgive herself for her actions. She would, in time, Thundercracker was sure, and he left Callie to fret over her cousin while he worried about Starscream.

L.A had been left burning and broken, their secret now officially out for the world to see. The battles all over the city and been too widely seen, too widely videotaped to be covered up. The American government was left scrambling, releasing statements of peace and the need to be allies to its people. Thundercracker didn't care what they did, so long as his trine and humans were safe.

Glancing up at her blue protector, Callie heaved a sigh. "There's gotta be something you can do for him TC. He's been out for over a week."

Red optics flickering down to his human charge, Thundercracker shifted unhappily in his seat, wings flicking. "I've been pondering the same thing. But I'm at a loss of what to do."

Callie frowned up at him, her forehead crinkling in worry. Sitting up, Skywarp looked back at his bond mate, red optics tired. "What if we take him flying TC? It's always helped in the past."

Frowning, Thundercracker thought on his mate's words as Ratchet and Prime came back into the med bay, checking up on the seekers. "It could work." Came the Decepticon's slow words.

"What could work?" Ratchet's sharp question drew everyone's attention.

Hesitating for a moment, Thundercracker worked his jaw as he considered his words. "Taking Starscream into the air. Feeling the wind might help reboot his processor. He is a flyer and it's always helped in the past."

The two Autobots shared a look, Optimus's brow pulling in worry. "Ratchet, do you think it could help?"

The medic's optics dimmed in thought, well aware that everyone's attention was solely on him. "I suppose it could. But his frame will not be able to handle top speeds, that wound to his side is still delicate and could easily tear."

The medic's blue optics narrowed on Thundercracker, the seeker taking Ratchet's words as permission to fly. Gently setting Callie down, Thundercracker scrambled to his pedes. "We'll only hover with him." Came the rushed promise.

Ratchet nodded, moving to where Starscream lay still and unmoving, carefully removing the leads and wires that kept track of his systems.

Gently scooping his trine leader up, cradling the mech against his chest, Thundercracker nodded his thanks to the medic, before telling Skywarp to follow. Days prior, Prime had shown both seekers where the Ariel bots hatch was in the _Ark_ , informing the seekers that they were welcome to use it should they need to fly.

Nodding to the Prime, and with Skywarp hot on his heels, Thundercracker had to stop himself from running to the hatch. Callie yelled out her good luck wishes as the pair disappeared from the medbay.

They reached the hatch in record time, nearly running, pride meaning nothing to them in their haste to get their trine leader into the air. The pair stepped out onto the top of the _Ark,_ and into the cold desert night; the stars twinkling above them, the moon waxy and full.

Thundercracker activated his thrusters, Starscream's limp body pressed into his chest, legs hanging over one arm.

Taking to the inky black sky, Thundercracker cinched his hold a little tighter around his wing leader, ensuring he wouldn't be dropped and with Skywarp right behind him, the pair rocketing into the sky.

Higher and higher they went, joy flickering through Thundercracker's systems and tumbling down the bond to both his trine mates the higher he went. This would work, it had to. Cold wind sliced around the seekers heated frames, higher and higher the seeker lieutenant went.

Framed by the fat moon, Thundercracker finally stopped, hovering high in the sky, face tipped down to Starscream's. Skywarp reached them a moment later, hovering with his bond mate, looking down at their trine leader, squashing him between their two airborne frames.

Cool wind blew over them, and Skywarp reached out to gently touch Starscream's dark face plates, petting and caressing. "Please Star. Please wake up."

Starscream didn't even twitch at the purple seeker's desperate plea and tears gathered at Skywarp's optics in fat drops. "Please Star."

Pushing love down the bonds to both trine members, Thundercracker's own voice joined Skywarp's, thick with emotion. "Please Starscream."

It felt like it was forever, the cool wind blowing over the three heated frames; icy wind gently caressing the white wings at Starscream's back. The wings twitched and shuttered, flicking at his back. A cobalt servo, bright and healthy clenched at Thundercracker's plating, curling into it tightly to cling to his trine mate.

Hope flared through Thundercracker. "Come on Scree. You can do it, wake up."

Skywarp whined, chirring in distress as he watched Starscream's face scrunch. "Some on Star. Come on."

Wind gusted around them, the large moon bright behind them and crimson optics finally blinked online, only to shut off right away.

It was Thundercracker's turn to chirr, distress flicking through him. "Come one Starscream. Wake up!"

His voice was rough and heavy. Starscream groaned and squirmed, uncomfortable in his trine mate's too tight hold. Crimson optics blinked on again, dim and confused.

"Thundercracker?" The seeker's voice was rough, confusion coloring his tone.

The blue seeker laughed a little, hesitant and almost scared, clutching his trine leader a little tighter. "It's me Scree. We've got you."

Blinking up at his trine mate, Starscream's optics brightening as more awareness came back. "Where are we?"

Skywarp laughed, high and happy, throwing his arms around his bond mate, crushing Starscream between them. Pressing his face into the top of Starscream's dark helm, laughing and nuzzling, Skywarp shot joy and elation down the trine bonds. Starscream hissed, tightening his grip on Thundercracker as the three of them rocked in the air.

The blue seeker poured more energon and power into his thrusters, the weight of two other seeker frame's leaning into his own was putting stress onto his own frame, and he couldn't keep them airborne. Skywarp wasn't helping as he clung to his mate and nuzzled his trine leader, causing Starscream to squawk at the youngest member of their trine. Skywarp's thrusters still only working at minimal capacity, was not nearly enough to support them.

Thundercracker slowly began to cut power to his thrusters, controlling their slow drop back down to the _Ark_. Skywarp was silently crying, clinging to his bonded, but moved a servo to clench at his wing leader. Gentle pedes touched the smooth metal of the _Ark's_ roof and cutting his engines, Thundercracker landed softly; dragging Skywarp down to his knees, the blue seeker slowly knelt, never loosening his grip on his trine leader.

Skywarp sobbed softly into Starscream's helm, petting any plating he could reach with a trembling black servo, mumbling incoherently that he was glad Starscream woke up, grateful even. Thundercracker held his trine leader, his own black servo petting at the proud white wings, whole and healthy.

"We were so worried." Skywarp muttered above him.

The wing leader sighed and allowed his trine to hold him, touch him for a while before it all became too much. Starscream could only remember bits and pieces of what happened in LA. He wanted his answers. "All right you two. Off, you're smothering me."

Moving back, Skywarp wiped the tears from his face with the back of his servo. "Sorry Scree, we've just been worried."

Starscream pulled himself up, wincing at the sensitive new plating at his side; sitting flat on his aft he flicked his wings, resetting them comfortably at his back. Thundercracker and Skywarp rearranged themselves on either side of his frame, their gentle servos touching at his heated plating, petting and offering comfort.

"What do you remember?" Thundercracker asked; voice low and rough.

Focusing on the full moon in the sky, Starscream thought for a moment, letting the memories come back in a rush. "The battle..." red optics narrowed. "The girl!"

"Mia." Thundercracker supplied softly. "She's shaken and a little banged up, but will be okay." Starscream nodded as Thundercracker continued. "You should be proud. You saved her Scree."

Skywarp went back to petting his commander's wings, just glad to have him back.

Grunting at his sub commanders words, Starscream looked up at the night sky. "Tell me we are not actually at the _Ark,_ are we?"

Thundercracker hesitated and nodded. "Prime has offered us a place amongst his mechs. We'll be safe here."

The memory of warm servos on his damaged, hurting and hot plating floated to the forefront of the trine leader's processor. Snarling more because of the memory, Starscream shook his helm, voice angry and hard, although not necessarily at his trine mates. "You mean your humans will be safe here."

Thundercracker and Skywarp shared a worried glance, shifting. "We will be safe here too Starscream." The blue seeker's voice was soft against his audio. "Skywarp told me what happened aboard the _Nemesis_ , what Megatron did."

The trine leader flinched, the memory of the hooks and the _Hole,_ pushing the warm feeling of Optimus's gentle servos on his body from his processor. He remained silent and continued to listen to his trine mate's soft words. "We shouldn't have to put up with that slag any more. You shouldn't have to deal with his slag anymore. We can stay here. Make a real difference."

Starscream frowned, glancing up at Thundercracker, catching his hopeful red optics. "You really want to stay _here_?"

There was no hesitation. "Yes."

Skywarp nodded behind the trine leader, dark helm bobbing up and down. "Me too. Some of the Autobots are okay, once you get to know them."

The wing leader looked from one trine mate to the other, their gazes open and hopeful. "You are sure we won't be betrayed?"

Thundercracker shrugged while Skywarp took to nuzzling his trine leader again. "I think that Prime is true to his words. He wants peace Starscream, and we need a way out. This benefits both of us."

Starscream held his trine mate's optics, looking for any hint of a lie; any hint that Thundercracker had been reprogrammed but the crimson optics that looked down at him were truthful, the bond open and true, and it felt like Thundercracker. Heaving a sigh, Starscream settled back against Skywarp, optics pinned on his blue trine mate. The purple seeker chirred softly, hugging his trine leader, and while Starscream allowed it, he narrowed red optics on Thundercracker. "And you two want to stay?" A nod from the pair of them, and Starscream continued. "So, how did this happen." A cobalt servo waving in front of him, indicating the three of them and the fact they were sitting on top of the _Ark_.

Thundercracker sighed, glancing down. "It's a long story." His black servo finding Starscream's to hold, to squeeze.

"We have all night." Starscream's clipped voice came, the order unspoken.

Thundercracker offered a rare smile to his trine mate, glad to have him back. Squeezing the servo again, the blue seeker told his commander as such.

Rolling crimson optics, Starscream huffed. "Stop being so dramatic and tell me what happened."

Skywarp laughed gently into Starscream's dark helm and Thundercracker smirked, never loosening his hold on Starscream's servo.

"All right. Calm down, don't blow a fuse, Ratchet will shoot me if you do." Chuckling, the blue seeker started the story. "It all started, when I was shot down in Nebraska..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy crap you guys, I'm done! That's it, that's all there is for this chapter and this story. But fret not friends as I already have the next story planned, and here's the synopsis:
> 
> As the seekers struggle to fit in amongst their new Autobot allies, Sunstreaker is forced to chase down Danny after his hurtful words chase her away. But they will face a much larger threat.
> 
> Or something along those lines. I have already got the next chapters of Victors Spoils and To Reclaim done, and are with my beta. I will be starting 'A Good Run For Your Money' within the next few days.
> 
> Until next time!
> 
> AcidGreenFlames


End file.
